


he knows i'm gonna stay

by bitchasslowry



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1970s, Blow Jobs, First Kiss, First Time, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Secret Relationship, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:20:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23671456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchasslowry/pseuds/bitchasslowry
Summary: An epic saga of self discovery, road trips, Marlboro cigarettes, empty fields at 2am and horrible mustard yellow shirts, all somehow coming together in Clearwater, Florida as '77 bleeds into '78.
Relationships: Adam Lowry/Brayden Point
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	1. The Streets of Laredo

**Author's Note:**

> If you found this by searching yourself or someone you know, for my own sanity, please click the back button now and don't return. This is a work of fiction and is not intended to depict real life events.
> 
> This fic could not exist without syd who has been my cheerleader about this since I first had the idea listening to The Mamas & The Papas at 3am one night. This one is for her :)
> 
> Full playlist of songs referenced to in this fic will be available on Spotify when it is completed. Enjoy!

The 1970’s. Peace, love and rock n’ roll. Sort of. Variety shows and sitcoms have become the circle of life for middle class families. Living the Archie Bunker lifestyle. 9 to 5 jobs, come home and eat dinner, watch Marcus Welbey at 8 and then go to sleep. Repeat in the morning. 

Most families operated like this, including the Point family. They, even though being middle class, also own a condo down in Florida where they stay every year for the Christmas holidays and occasionally the summer.

Brayden, the middle of the three Point brothers, is less than impressed to be partaking in this adventure if you will, to Clearwater. Riley and Kade both got to weigh their opinions on the trip but Brayden was practically told three days ago to pack a bag for a two week long trip over Christmas break. 

For a pretty good reason, Brayden doesn’t know how his 12 year old little brother made a final call on this. He wants to talk this whole thing out with his parents. 

But it seems it’s a little late now. The pilot’s voice chimes in over the aircraft audio system that they would be landing in Tampa in 40 minutes. Brayden simply buckles his seat belt and attempts to fall asleep for the umpteenth time this flight. He doesn’t get very far when he feels his brother smack him in the chest. Groaning, he sits up and glares at him. 

“Hey, how much would I have to pay you to try and get that stewardess’ number?” Riley asks, pointing over towards a blonde girl standing towards the front of the plane. 

Sure, she’s pretty, but Brayden has no interest in her. Shiny hair pinned up into a bun and long legs being shown off by the skirt of her uniform riding up just a bit. Tiny waist, dainty everything. 

Riley’s type. Not Brayden’s. 

“I’ll pass, man. Thanks for the, uh, offer anyways.” Brayden sort of rolls his eyes a bit and flops back in his seat again. 

Riley scoffs and pulls at the tie he was wearing. “Your loss. Besides, she’d never go for someone like you. All small and dorky-“

A prompt smack up the side of his head seems to shut Riley up real quick. 

Brayden has to admit, girls aren’t exactly flocking to him. Nor does he want them to. He’s on the short side maxing out at 5’10 and not budging since he was 16. Two years later he’s 18 and hasn’t grown even half an inch. Pathetic if you ask him. 

Not even touching on the borderline ginger aspect of him, he’s a bit skinny. Which Brayden supposes isn’t that bad seeing as everyone else around him seems to be in the same boat he is. And to him that’s pretty comforting. 

Soon enough the plane lands in Tampa, the captain’s voice coming over the radio system again letting the cabin know that it was a pleasure to fly with them and that Tampa is a chill 65 degrees outside. Brayden furrows his eyebrows in confusion but is settled by an older woman leaning over across the aisle to him. 

“That means it’s 18, sweetie.” Brayden nods with a smile and waits for the line in front of him to start moving before getting up. 

It’s better than Calgary and that’s all that matters. 

*

Mark huffs and pulls his station wagon into his designated parking space. Not very happy, he looks up at the sky and notices the clouds covering the sun, casting a grey shadow on everything. It was Adam’s genius idea to come to Clearwater for the winter break and Mark along with their other friend Blake ended up being dragged along with their dumb friend.

It was Adam’s uncle who let them stay in his condo down in Florida so that they didn’t have to pay for living accommodations during their one last hurrah of their twenties. Before life took over for them.

Mark shakes his head, pushes up his glasses and starts yanking things out of the back of his car. Before he knows it, he feels a blow to his back and a laugh signifies the person responsible.

“So, brother, how was the drive?” Adam laughs out as Mark coughs a couple times.

“It took me a day and a half, Lows. I’m not impressed.” Adam shakes his head and moves to grab one of Mark’s bags from his car. The way up to the condo is nothing less than a difficult journey with both Adam and Mark hitting sides of walls and accidentally a couple doors on the way to unit 2B.

As Adam fumbles for his keys, the door to another unit swings open to reveal a girl who looks quite a few years younger than the boys. She smirks and leans on the frame.

“Having trouble, gentlemen?”

Mark laughs a little and shakes his head no.”No, just uncoordinated.”

She smiles and walks over, taking one of the bags Mark is holding so that he can open the door without accidentally breaking something. 

Finally getting the key turned in the door and the plethora of bags placed down in the living room, Adam and Mark turn to the girl. 

“Uh, who are you anyways?” Mark asks, pulling things out of a box. 

“Shit, sorry. Jenna,” she says extending her hand. The boys both shake it. “I’m here with my parents and boyfriend for a while… which reminds me that he’s probably back. I’ll see you guys around?”

“Yeah of course. Uh, I’m Adam and that’s Mark, by the way.”

The girl smiles and closes the door behind her. Adam and Mark both look down at the plethora of boxes and overall shit that was hauled out of Mark’s Vista Cruiser.

“Well now what?”

*

Kade bounces in front of Brayden with his little backpack in hand to where their parents are waiting for them. Brayden’s parents have already been in Clearwater for a week before the boys for almost a little couple’s getaway while the boys finished up their last week of school before the two weeks off.

The drive from Tampa to Clearwater is hardly far; just over the causeway and they were nearly on top of the condos. Brayden looked out at the scenery around him between the plethora of kids his age hanging around the burger shack or row of Cadillacs in front of a bar. Yes, at two o’clock in the afternoon.

He can barely stand Kade squirming in between him and Riley for any longer when he feels the car shift and they pull into the drive to Cove Cay.

The lady at the front booth waves them through and the Point family all go bumping along in their car before stopping in their parking spot at their building next to probably the ugliest Vista Cruiser Brayden has ever seen. It was brown and green and horrible. Brayden simply scrunched his nose up and climbed out of the car.

Much like Mark not too long ago, the Point brothers all unload their trunk and drag their things up to the condo. Brayden is barely in the door when he feels a tap on his shoulder.

“Buddy, long time no see!” Brayden whips around to see the familiar face of Willis, better known to him as Will, standing there with a big smile on his face. Except looking a little bit older, he looks almost exactly the same; wild and untamable blonde curls and still just a little bit shorter than Brayden, something he will never let Will live down.

Brayden smiles back and pulls Will into a quick hug and patting his back. “It’s good to see you, man. Is Jenna around?”

He shrugs. “Yeah I think. I was just out getting some things from CVS but I’m sure she’s around somewhere,” Will explains, somehow smiling even brighter at the mention of his girlfriend. Brayden laughs and picks at his belt loop a bit before hearing his mom call his name.

“I’ll catch you later, okay? Meet down at the clubhouse tonight?” Brayden asks while bouncing around on the balls of his feet a bit. Will nods and starts backing up.

“Eight?”

“You know it.” And just like that Will was back in unit 2D, leaving Brayden in the entryway to 2A. Turning on his heel, he shuts the door and grabs his suitcase, setting off for his bedroom to unpack. 

Brayden is unpacking some of the books that rest at the bottom of his suitcase when he hears, and quite frankly feels, something hit the other side of the wall that his bed is pressed up against. He also hears some muffled yelling before everything goes quiet.

Somehow Brayden already has a love-hate relationship with the people next door.

*

Eight o’clock rolls around quick enough between the mess of unpacking, Brayden’s dad booking a tee-off time at the golf course and having to figure out dinner with the very little groceries they have.

Brayden slips on some shoes and pads his way down the stairs and across the car park to get to the clubhouse. It’s exactly the same as he remembers; same ashtrays too.

With a quick scan around the building he finds the group of his friends sitting in their regular corner. It seemed to only be them along with a couple older men playing a game of pool at the other end of the small bar set up along the back wall.

A head of hair that is not easy to miss waves at Brayden to call him over. He smiles and pulls up a chair, sitting in it backwards and facing the group. 

To his left is Jenna McIlroy who Brayden has known pretty much all of his life. Her family has a condo right down from his and they met back when they were about five years old and visiting for the first time. They have watched each other grow up and turn into these absolute messes of teenagers, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Next to Jenna is Willis, an arm slug around her waist. He’s always been a gentle soul and sort of a nerd but it’s nearly impossible to hate him. 

“Well look what the cat dragged in!” another girl beside Willis nearly yells. Samantha de Melo alongside her brother Paul who is sitting next to her and Brayden. Sam is loud to say the least, and so is Paul. They stay in a condo with their grandparents who end up feeding the group a lot of the time. Their grandmother always makes way too much potatoes and fish, so if a plate of traditional Portuguese food ends up in front of your door at 4 o’clock in the afternoon just expect that it’s from Maria de Melo.

“Oh shut up. I’ve gotten like, five hours of sleep in the last forty-eight hours because of my brothers and my mom freaking out over everything.” The group of them laugh and sip on what seems to look like an assortment of pop and a singular alcoholic beverage for Paul.

The kids all chat and catch up on the last year of their lives that couldn’t be expressed in a letter until the clubhouse closed down at midnight. Right near the end it’s just Brayden and Jenna talking low as Willis nearly falls asleep on Jenna. Ten minutes from close a few people walk in.

All three of them can barely get through the door without making enough noise to wake up the entire condo complex. It didn’t exactly seem to be their fault though. All of them, guys that look to be in their early twenties, are ridiculously tall with legs and arms way too long for their own good.

The shortest one takes a quick glance over to the corner that Jenna and Brayden are still talking in. He taps one of the tall ones on the shoulder and points. He smiles at his friends and makes his way over.

“Hey, Jenna, right?” the shorter one asks, also giving Brayden a quick look.

“Yeah! This is my friend Brayden. He also stays here with his family during the holidays. Uh, Brayden, this is Mark, one of the guys in the unit next to you.”

 _Ah, so that’s who was yelling at his friend earlier today_ , Brayden thinks to himself. Mark extends a hand out and shakes Brayden’s.

“That’s Adam and Blake over there. We’re staying here for a while so hopefully we’ll see you all around?” Mark asks, also acknowledging the sleeping Willis who hasn’t even begun to move during the whole conversation. Brayden and Jenna both nod and smile before Mark spins around and trots back to his friends. Brayden’s eyes linger on the first boy, well, more like a man that Mark pointed to. 

Much unlike himself, Adam is tall and overall has a fairly thick build. It looks like he’s buying a bag of chips from the small vending machine and laughing at something that the other man, Blake, is saying. Something about him intrigues Brayden; maybe it’s the sheer size of him or possibly his interesting fashion choice of flared jeans and horrendous looking mustard yellow button up. But that was an oxymoron since not a single button is done up yet still tucked into the pants.

He has a mustache that would probably look horrible on a majority of guys that Brayden knows yet somehow he pulls it off along with some crazy shiny borderline ginger hair. Brayden is getting lost in his thoughts when he feels something soft hit his left cheek.

He spins around to find Willis awake with both him and Jenna, who just threw a napkin at his face, smirking devilishly. Damn those two.

“Are you done being all fond, B?” Willis mocks slightly.

Brayden rolls his eyes and pushes himself out of his chair, taking one last sip of the ginger ale that he’s been trying to finish all evening. “I’m going to bed you idiots. My dad’s going golfing tomorrow so if you want to do something you’ll at least save me from doing a fucking puzzle with my mom and Kade.”

Jenna and Willis both chuckle and wave him off to go back to the building. Brayden begins walking to the door when it seems to open up for him. What the fuck.

He looks up just to find the man he was sort of drooling over not even five minutes ago. Adam. He’s smiling and gesturing for Brayden to go ahead through the door.

“Thank you,” Brayden attempts to say at a normal volume but it comes out sort of quiet and squeaky. Adam seems to smile wider.

“My pleasure.”

Brayden scampers out of the club house and all but runs back to his condo building. Through the window of the clubhouse he can see Jenna and Willis laughing at what is most likely him. Fuckers.

Brayden finally fishes his keys out of his pocket and gets the door open as quick as possible. He passes his dad who is passed out on the couch, Toronto Maple Leafs highlights playing on the television because he forgot to turn it off. Brayden walks up to the tv and turns it off himself before slipping into his bedroom, strips off his pants and shirt before throwing on an old t-shirt and rolling into bed.

Within about ten minutes he feels the wall shake again. For some reason unknown to him, Brayden feels a bit strange about now knowing that Adam is probably making a peanut butter sandwich on the other side of the wall.

Brayden goes to sleep thinking about that horrible mustard yellow shirt.

*

A couple days go by and Brayden doesn’t see Adam or Mark. He saw Blake one time walking outside on his second day but other than that it’s been a ghost town. He still hears the bickering and things falling on the other side of his wall but that doesn’t give him much.

Brayden is getting dressed for some party Jenna decided that he needs to be at when Riley wanders in. Midway buttoning up his shirt Riley stops him.

“Leave it there. If you want to get any action tonight then you’re gonna need to show the ladies a little something something, alright?” Riley smirks and waggles his eyebrows. Brayden rolls his eyes for what feels like the thousandth time this trip already and drops his hands to his side, leaving the top three buttons open and exposing him to the world.

“There you go! Guaranteed chick magnet now!” Riley exclaims before turning on his heel and stalking out of Brayden’s room. Brayden finishes up and attempts to figure out his hair before he hears a knock at the door. 

He’s walking into the living room when his mom opens the door to find the whole group there to pick up Brayden. He puts on a pair of shoes as quickly as possible before giving his mom a little kiss on the cheek and closes the door on his way out.

*

The party is in full swing by the time they get there and Willis goes off to get a drink for him and Jenna as soon as they get in the door. From the mixed conversations in the car all the way to Clearwater Beach he has deduced that his party is being held by one of Jenna’s friend’s neighbours and she somehow managed to get them invited.

They have been in the door all of two seconds before Sam grabs Brayden’s arm and drags him over to the drink table. She cracks open a beer bottle with the end of the table and hands it to him.

“Drink this and don’t be such a square, Brayden.” And just as soon as she dragged him she left, leaving him to fend for himself in a large group of people that he has no idea where they came from or who they are.

Brayden manages to finish his beer without any issues but as soon as he finishes and hears the Rolling Stones music start to play through the small beach house he calls it quits and slips out the front door.

Down by the beach is always booming no matter what time of day or year it is. Mostly composed of teenagers and college students, groups of people walk up and down the sidewalks and white sandy beaches without a care in the world. The main road has yet to get busy with the new developments in the area so Brayden decides to walk in the left lane.

The sun doesn’t fully set until after 9 o’clock which means that it was only dusky out as of right now. Brayden just wanted to go back to the condos and relax but he has zero way of getting there. Paul drove them all down to the beach and last time he checked back at the party, Paul was a little preoccupied with a special friend he likes to call Mary Jane.

Brayden decides that a little place down by the water is a perfect place to hang out until Jenna eventually comes looking for him in a few hours.

He plants himself down on a tiny dock that was open for the public to use to jump off of into the water. Due to the time of night, no one was really swimming anymore and more or less just sitting, walking and talking to one another. Brayden takes a look out over the water and notices a few dolphins splashing around out in the middle of the bay. He smiles at them.

A pair of feet walking on the dock make it rattle a little but Brayden just assumes that it’s someone taking a picture of the sunset. What he isn’t expecting is the person to sit down beside him. But by god he would recognize that horrible mustard yellow colour anywhere.

“Adam.”

Adam seems to be a little surprised at Brayden knowing his name. He raises his eyebrows and looks over at him. “Yeah. And you’re Brayden. Mark told me.” Brayden nods and kicks his feet over the edge a little bit. “Parties aren’t your thing I’m guessing?”

He nods in agreement and Adam hums in response. “Jenna made me go but I just want to go home.”

Adam cocks his head to the side and raises his eyebrows like he has an idea. He nudges Bradyden with his elbow and nods towards the parking lot.

“I’ve got my car here if you want a ride back?”

Brayden smirks a little and puts a hand on his hip. “How do I know you’re not going to murder me? You held a door open for me, slow down buddy.”

Adam simply shrugs. “Alright. My name is Adam Lowry, I’m twenty-one years old and go to the University of Manitoba and major in History. I have a younger brother who still lives back in Calgary-”

“You’re from Calgary?” Brayden perks up.

He hums in agreement. “Born and raised.”

Brayden shuffles his way up to a standing position. “I guess I can trust you now.”

They both let out a laugh and Adam tucks his legs under his body, pushing himself up to stand beside Brayden. “If I knew that’s all it took to take you home I would have done it sooner.”

Adam winks at Brayden playfully causing Brayden to flush a dark red down his neck. He coughs a little and looks up at Adam who sort of shakes his head a little. The two of them start walking towards the parking lot and Brayden gives the beach house where all of his friends are a quick glance.

“If it makes you feel any better, Mark and Blake are both there and when they see my car gone then they’ll probably figure it out.” Brayden nods at Adam’s words and kicks a rock on the sidewalk. It’s a silent two minute walk to where Adam’s car is parked, but it’s almost nice. It isn’t awkward and neither of them feel the need to say anything.

When Adam dips left and steadies the keys that he’s been twirling around his finger and shoves it in the door of a car that is way too nice for someone his age, Brayden gawks.

“This is yours?” Brayden asks running a hand down the side of the car. It’s a sleek black that reflects the orange of the sunset behind them. The windows are perfectly clear with not even a speck of dirt to be found on the fender.

“My dad found it in a scrap yard and he knew how much I wanted a car of my own so he brought this home, told me if I could fix it up then it was all mine. And here I am two years later with a fucking sick 1964 Chevy Camaro.” Adam smirks and heaves open the door, folding himself to fit inside. He reaches over the passenger seat and unlocks the door so that Brayden could do the same as him, minus the folding of course. 

Adam starts to drive off and when they hit an intersection he stops, turning towards Brayden. 

“I can take you home if you want, but if you wanna go for a drive, I know a way to go… the scenic route if you will.” Adam reaches between them into the small tray to pick up his sunglasses. 

Brayden feels nearly out of place alongside Adam. Brayden is all soft edges and still has a little bit of a kid look; not fully grown into himself as a person and dresses like the sixth and rejected member of The Beach Boys. He listens to ABBA and his idea of fun is sitting around the living room playing Scrabble with his friends while the hockey game plays on the television. 

Adam looks like he lives life fast and hard. His overall demeanor is completely laid back and placid yet you take one look at him and know immediately that you don’t want to cross him. Even the way he drives is completely composed and it nearly pisses Brayden off at how content he seems. 

Adam’s leaning back in his seat, left knee bent up with the matching hand resting on it. He has one hand at the top of this steering wheel made of satin oak wood, a silver ring secured on his middle finger. 

Sleeves pushed up, hair soft and moving freely in the wind, bright blue eyes scanning the road in front of him and lips pulled up in a smirk that seems permanent, he radiates the energy of a man that any woman in her right mind would want. 

The car comes to a stop at a red light and that’s when Brayden realizes he’s been staring at Adam for a little bit too long. 

Adam gestures towards the glove box and steps on the gas when the light turns green. “There’s some music in there, if you want to pick something.”

Brayden nods his head and pops it open to find a copious amount of cassettes. Brayden’s eyes fly open. 

“You don't have tapes at home?”

“Uh, some but not many. I have an 8 Track but that’s about it,” Brayden responds while running through the cases with probably the prettiest cursive writing he’s ever seen. 

One catches his attention and makes him snort out a laugh into his shoulder. Adam looks over at him with a smile. 

“What is it?” he pushes while turning onto the bridge to take them over to Madeira Beach. Brayden lets out another throaty chuckle and he beams wide taking out a single tape. 

“Streets of Laredo? Really? I thought you were more of an AC/DC tough guy than a Marty Robbins lover.” Brayden manages to get out the sentence with only having to break to laugh once. Adam reaches over and slaps him lightly on the shoulder. 

Adam shakes his head and leans on the drivers side door, resting his head in his hand. “You know us men have to have a little bit of a soft side, right?”

“I would hardly call myself a man.” Brayden scrunched his nose up at the word. His whole life he’s just been a boy. His brother and father were the men as far as he’s been concerned.

“Oh, come on. Unless you’re like, fourteen, which I highly doubt you are, you are totally a man.”

Brayden raises his eyebrows. “I’m eighteen. I literally just graduated high school in June. I’m taking a year off before university for the love of God.”

“That’s man enough for me. Didn’t your prom date or whatever ever call you a gentleman? Swoon over you a little?” Brayden shakes his head no. Adam is taken aback and nearly slams on the brakes to avoid a squirrel crossing the street. “So you never wined and dined your girl before?”

“I’ve never had a girl, you idiot,” Brayden states in a playfully mocking tone, no bitterness behind the name. Adam continues to look baffled and even goes to the lengths of pushing his sunglasses down his nose to stare at Brayden over top of them. 

Adam scoffs. “I find that hard to believe. You’re like, Mr. Perfect in every mom’s eyes. Wait, do you play hockey?” Brayden nods for about the fiftieth time this evening. “You are the actual definition of the ideal Canadian boy-next-door. What the actual fuck.”

Brayden shifts in his seat to face Adam fully, because you know, fuck seat belts. “Look bud, I’ve never had a girlfriend before and the only kiss I’ve ever gotten was by this girl named Violet back in grade five because her friends dared her to. I’m pathetic I know, you don’t have to remind me. You- how did we get from The Streets of Laredo to talking about my love life?”

Adam simply shrugs and cocks his head to the side to look at Brayden again. “I don’t know but I had fun doing it.”

Both of the boys burst out laughing and Adam nearly missed his turnoff. He bites his lip to the point it’s almost raw when he pokes Brayden in the thigh. 

“Ouch, what the fuck-“

“You want to go down there for a bit? I need to get a pack of smokes and it’s pretty this time of night.”

Brayden contemplates it for a second, thinking about his friends still back at the beach and his mom who’s going to worry if he isn’t home by midnight. Seeing as it’s 9:30 he agrees.

Adam pulls into a small road and parking lot which is lined with a bunch of little shops selling practically anything you can think of. To the right and in front of the car is a small bar with what looks like the Canadiens and Bruins on a small television behind the counter playing.

Adam whips the car around and parks it beside this brand new, golden brown Impala that has Ontario plates on it. A kid who looks no older than Brayden is sitting in the driver's seat and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. Adam nearly takes out a child with his door when getting out since the kid is trying to get into the Impala at the same time. Brayden tries to stifle a laugh but fails miserably.

Adam looks down at the kid and makes sure that it isn’t watching him and he flips Brayden off, making him snort out another laugh.

The two boys walk along the side of the road in a comfortable silence until they reach a little shop right before the stairs to the boardwalk. 

“John’s Pass?” Brayden asks, pointing to the sign and statue also in front of the stairs. Adam nods and simply taps the little plaque on the statue.

“They named this place after all the sailors that are lost at sea. I found it a few years ago when I was here for the summer. It was bitching hot and it’s the only place with a semi-private beach and ice cream place within walking distance of each other,” he explains while opening the door to a small smoke shop. Brayden gets that same feeling of being out of place. He’s never smoked a day in his life but Adam seems to know what he’s doing. He tosses two packs of Winston’s and a singular pack of Marlboro menthol 100’s on the counter. Brayden stares at them.

“Don’t ask. Blake smokes those, not me. Jesus, they’re horrible,” Adam turns his nose up while speaking and also hands two one dollar bills over. He collects his change and shoves two of the packs in the back of his jeans pocket.

They walk out of the shop and Adam takes out a dart, lets it rest in his mouth before going wide eyed. He quickly takes it out of his mouth. “I’m so sorry, is it okay if I-”

“Oh, yeah, go right ahead! Don’t, uh, let me stop you. I don’t but, uh, my parents both smoke so I’m, uh- I’m cool with it.”

_Real smooth Brayden, Jesus fucking Christ._

Adam resumes lighting up the cigarette and takes a long drag from it. Brayden and him keep walking towards the boardwalk and climb up the stairs. Since they were at Clearwater Beach the sun has gone down even more, leaving the bay to be lit up by the lights on the coasts and the boats that are roaming the water, most likely with families on them.

Adam bends a little bit and leans down on the railing with his forearms, watching the pelicans flap around each other. In that moment Brayden realizes how small he is compared to Adam. His arm doesn’t even come close to the same length of Adam’s and his hand is impressively smaller. Brayden gulps.

The two of them chat idly about useless things like the recent Red Wings game and what their plans are for the rest of the holidays. Brayden sees an opportunity and takes it.

“Look, my friends and I always go over to Sam and Paul’s, my friends that I uh, don’t think you’ve met, condo for dinner on Christmas Eve since their grandma loves feeding us, don’t ask why, and we could use some extra company. You already know Jenna and stuff so…”

Adam raises his eyebrows in encouragement for Brayden to keep going. “Would you, Mark and Blake maybe want to join us?”

The corner of Adam’s mouth twitches up into a smile and he nods. “Yeah, for sure. I’ll tell the guys.”

They fall back into a comfortable silence and keep watching the small waves crash up into the sandy beach. It was only a matter of time when Adam noticed a group of girls, probably around three of them, eyeing up him and Brayden. 

Brayden seems to notice too and gets fidgety. “I’ll wait in the car if you wanna, ya know…”

“Oh god no, I’m with you. Let’s go.” They both quickly duck down the boardwalk and the girls watch them with a slight disappointment. Adam unlocks his car again once they’ve scampered away and the two boys slide in. “Not my type anyway.”

Brayden has a moment of confusion but waves it off as nothing. It’s really dark when they finally start driving again, the time now being a quarter to eleven. Adam and Brayden still have their windows down even though Brayden is shivering a bit.

“Dude, you could have just told me you’re cold.” Adam reaches down and starts cranking his window up and Brayden does the same. He sends a sort of shy smile at Adam and says a quiet thanks.

If Brayden didn’t know any better then he would say that he sees a faint blush creep up his neck under the glow of the street lights. Brayden sits quietly.

Surprisingly, their silence once again isn't awkward but rather calming. There was no need to talk and they both just seemed happy in each other’s presence, watching Clearwater go by and make its way into the small part of Largo where the condo is situated.

Soon enough Adam parks the car, collects the packs of darts and tosses them into the pocket of his coat that’s been sitting in the backseat this whole time. Brayden shuffles out of the car and attempts to carefully close the door. Adam chuckles and practically slams his own door.

“Are you always this careful about everything?” Adam asks with a smile and cocks his head to the side. Brayden playfully flips him off and sighs.

“Yeah. Unfortunately I am. My brother makes fun of me all the time,” he responds and shoves his hands in his pockets, beginning to walk towards the stairs with Adam.

“That’s not a bad thing.” Adam kicks a rock in the parking lot into the small flower bed in front of the first row of cars. “I think it’s kinda cute.”

If Brayden was drinking something he for sure would have spit it out and made an embarrassment out of himself. He feels his face heating up and looks the opposite way, pretending the pool is the most interesting thing in the world. He mumbles out a thanks and scratches the back of his neck, toying with the longer hair back there.

Adam and Brayden make it to the stairs and both make it up quickly, mostly because Brayden is practically running up them. They make it out, stand in front of their doors and realize that this is probably the most uncomfortable part of the night.

“So I-”

“That was-”

They both laugh at their attempts to smooth this whole interaction down. “I’ll see you tomorrow right?”

Brayden nods and starts backing closer to his unit. “For sure. And, uh, don’t forget to ask about Christmas Eve.”

“You have my word, Brayden.”

He nearly makes a fool out of himself trying to open the door but he succeeds, closes the door and kicks off his shoes with a long drawn out sigh.

“Glad you’ve joined me.” Brayden ducks his head into the kitchen to find Riley sitting there playing solitaire and drinking a beer with a smirk on his face. “You’re red.”

“Am not.”

“Okay… whatever you say, little brother,” Riley draws out and winks. Brayden rolls his eyes and turns on his heel to head to the bathroom.

Just when he thought he was in the clear, he hears Riley call out from the kitchen. “Don’t think about whatever chick you found tonight while you’re in there. Trust me, it forms attachments.”

Brayden slams the bathroom door right after flipping his brother the bird and tosses his clothes onto the toilet seat. He turns on the shower but before going in he splashes cold water from the sink onto his face and looks at himself in the mirror.

Brayden has an internal battle with himself when he realizes that he’s wasting water. He strips and jumps into the shower, letting the warm water calm him down. He feels a bit hot and uncomfortable. Looking down he finds his problem.

He contemplates it, but decides that rubbing one out in the shower to the thought of a dude he just met is a bad idea. This is the last time that he will ever listen to anything Riley says. 

After most likely the quickest shower of his life, Brayden throws on some pyjamas and puts on this weird cream that his mom got him for that one pimple on his cheek. _God, you are so lame._

Brayden crawls into bed and throws on the radio for a little bit of noise. He ultimately falls asleep to Moonlight Serenade filling his room and a fleeting thought of Adam in his mind.

He’s so fucked.


	2. My Sweet Lord

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains topics surrounding religion and how some people use it in a bad way. If you are sensitive to this topic please click away now. I am in no way bashing religion or putting it in a bad light, but some of the comments made could be questionable. Please proceed with caution, I want this is be an enjoyable read for everyone!

Brayden wakes up to his mom hitting him upside the head. “We’re going to be late!”

It takes him a few seconds to finally get his bearings around him and to realize that he fell asleep for another half hour after his mother yelled at him the first time to get ready for church.

He rolls himself out of bed and puts on a dress shirt and pants still in a sleep induced haze. If this is any precursor to what his mother is doing to make him do for church on actual Christmas then Brayden isn’t sure that he’s going to make it.

Brayden combs his hair and attempts to look somewhat presentable before digging through his things to find his shoes. He’s always dreaded going to church with his family. Sure, his dad could care less about pretty much anything that the priest has to say but to Brayden’s mom it’s gospel. He just doesn’t get it if he’s being honest. Brayden thinks that he can be just a good person without having to sit in a pew on his winter vacation, thank you very much.

But lo and behold Brayden is shoving Kade over to the middle seat in the back of the car so that he can fit in as well. The drive to the church is around five minutes and Brayden just looks out the window at the passers by the whole time.

Soon enough, the Point family are all sitting together in a single row waiting for the service to start. Brayden doesn’t really pay attention to anything that’s happening. He takes out the Bible when he needs to, mumbles along with the hymns and does his “Peace be with you, and also with you”’s with fake enthusiasm. He has nothing against people that believe in this kind of stuff, but it’s just not his cup of tea. 

The early morning sun shining through the stained glass windows give a pretty glow to the picture of Jesus on the cross that Brayden sort of smiles at. Riley, who is sitting beside him, seems to be just as interested as Brayden about the current verse that is being dissected by all the old church ladies sitting at the front.

Much to his amusement, the service ends and everyone makes their way out, some tossing some money in the collection plate. Brayden’s mother threw in a five dollar bill and his eyes went wide. Brayden just passed it to the older woman behind him without putting anything in. At this point his tie is getting itchy and he’s ready to actually eat breakfast with his friends.

The breakfast spot is just a small walk down the road from the church and halfway through he ditches the tie, shoving it into his pocket and undoing the top button of his shirt. 

As soon as Brayden ducks into the same little cafe that he found around three years ago, he notices that Sam and Paul are the only ones sitting down, sipping on a cup of coffee. Behind the counter stands Anthony, a young Latino man that the group from the condo have all befriended over the years. Anthony always looks forward to them coming on Sunday’s to sit and chat for a few hours.

Anthony smiles and waves over to Brayden and he returns it. “You’re usual?”

Brayden nods and pulls up a chair to the small table that Sam has claimed as theirs. She wasn’t looking too hot, even at eleven o’clock in the morning. Her hair is askew and she looks as if she hasn’t gotten more than three hours of sleep. There were some slight bags under her eyes and she’s wearing a tracksuit; very unlike her.

Brayden is about to speak when she raises her hand in protest. “Don’t… even try it.”

“Rough night, eh?” Brayden asks, smirking and tapping his fingers on the wood of the table top. 

Sam scoffs and reaches for her coffee, which is now half empty. “You’re telling me. You fucking ditched twenty minutes into the party,” she exclaims and immediately regrets her decision, clutching her head because of a headache. Brayden, like any good friend, laughs and Paul joins in. Right as Anthony is walking over with a plate for Brayden, Sam lifts a hand up and sticks the middle finger right in Brayden’s face. This just prompts him to laugh harder.

As Brayden is thanking Anthony for the plate of eggs, a donut and his own cup of coffee, the door to the cafe swings open and in tumbles Jenna and Willis, Will poking at Jenna and her looking about two seconds from smacking him. Nevertheless, she still looks down at him and smiles.

“Well there he is! Where the fuck did you run off to last night, B?” Jenna asks, waggling her eyebrows at Brayden and taking her own seat along with Willis. Brayden attempts to hide his blush and miraculously succeeds.

He shifts around and scoops eggs into his mouth. “I just went for a little walk. Adam was down there too so we ended up taking a drive back to the condos. The group nods slowly with his statement and all share the same look with each other. Jenna and Sam make eye contact for a split second with the same furrowed eyebrow and squinted eyes look but chose to ignore Brayden’s adventure, if you will.

For the next while everyone eats with very minimal speaking, most likely due to Sam’s pounding headache and Brayden replaying everything that happened last night back again in his head. He hates to say it but he really wants to see Adam again. To Brayden, there’s just something about him that he can’t place. Maybe it has to do with the events of last night and why exactly he was feeling it in the shower, but Brayden pushes that to the furthest corner of his mind.

He just takes a bite and picks at the chip in the paint on the table.

-

In hindsight, agreeing to go golfing with his dad was probably the worst decision Brayden has made in a long time. And to make it even better, his mom decided she’s going too at the last minute, leaving Brayden alone to find a partner.

Fuck this and the pretentious golf course that doesn’t send out four people together like everybody else. Brayden’s parents have already given him a lecture about staying until someone else comes along in need of a partner.

He’s sat in an armchair in the little hut where you pay for your round, playing around with the buckle of his belt. He stays like that for another five minutes before he hears the door to the hut open. 

He doesn’t think anything of it until he feels a hand on his shoulder. 

“Need a partner?” 

Brayden, somehow, recognizes the voice and whips his head up to meet the gaze of Adam who is surprisingly decked out in a golf shirt and shorts.

“Yeah, actually. That would be great,” he mumbles out and hoists himself up. Standing he realizes again how small he actually is compared to Adam who’s all shoulders and thighs.

Brayden loosens up the salmon coloured polo shirt from his shorts a little before snatching up his clubs and walking over towards the counter with Adam, Mark and Blake. Mark gives him a smile and shoves himself into Blake in a silent way of telling him to greet Brayden.

Once they finally get out onto the green with very minimal talking, Adam speaks up. “So where were you and your parents off to this morning so early?”

Brayden raises his eyebrows a little at the question yet Adam smirks while pulling out his driver. “Just saw the five of you walking out to your car at like, seven in the morning when I was in the pool. I think I would end up killing my brother if I ever had to be in a vehicle with him that early.”

Everything clicked and Brayden let out a sigh. 

“Oh, mom dragged us to church. It’s about as exciting as you think it is,” Brayden chuckled out, fiddling with a golf tee between his fingers. 

Adam swings back and hits the ball, a clear ping sound reverberating off the trees and golf cart. Brayden can’t help but notice how tight Adam’s shorts are in the moment of his follow through.

“Damn, did you see that? I think that’s my best drive yet.”

Brayden tears his eyes away from Adam to peer past him and down the fairway, noticing how far the ball actually went and landed in the middle of a turn. He nods.

“Totally.”

A silence fell over the two of them as Brayden set up for his own tee-off. Adam finds a place on the golf cart to sit for a bit and just watch his movements.

“Didn’t know you were a religious guy.” Brayden tenses up for a slight moment before wedging his tee into the ground. 

“I’m not. My mother is…” he replies, placing the ball down. Adam nods in understanding and pulls out a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, lighting it up and taking a drag from it. “No offence if it’s your thing but some stuff she tells me I just don’t get.”

Adam rolls his shoulders back and leans on the seat. “Don’t worry, I’m with you. You should have seen my mother’s face when I told her I didn’t agree with sending my cousin to this Christian camp. Pray the gay away or some bull.”

Brayden felt his stomach swell in a surprise happiness that he’s honestly still not sure why it happened. He looks up at Adam and sees his permanent smirk around his dart and notices him looking away from Brayden. He has this moment just like he did the other night, watching Adam drive down the freeway back to the condos with the golden tones of the setting sun extenuating his features. 

Brayden rips his eyes away before he can think of anything else and sets himself up for his drive.

-

Willis showing up at his door is no surprise to Brayden, but with Blake behind him he thinks a little differently. Will looks small next to the other boy, easily having at least eight inches on him and Brayden can’t help but chuckle a bit.

“Everyone is down at the pool dipshit, lets go,” Willis said, whacking Brayden in the face lightly with a towel. Brayden blinks quickly but recovers, smacking Will on the arm and telling him and Blake to take a seat while he gets ready.

The two of them make small conversation while Brayden changes into swim shorts and snatches his own towel that he is planning on hitting Willis back with.

It’s late, the sun nearly down and the lamps of the outdoor pool and parking lot are the only sources of light. The three boys make their way through the gate and are greeted with the rest of their now seemingly group of friends.

Jenna is walking down the stairs of the pool when they arrive, Willis sending her a smile. Mark and Sam are in the pool sort of gliding around and chatting while Paul sits on the side dipping his feet in and thumbing at a page in his book.

But of course, Brayden really notices only one person in the group. Adam is laying in a pool lounger, one arm behind his head and the other resting on top of his stomach. He turns his head to the side and spots Brayden, quickly swinging his body around and lifting himself off of the seat.

He walks over to Blake and Brayden who are both still standing in the middle of the pool deck and gives Brayden a quick poke on the arm. 

“Didn’t think your mother would let you down here.”

Brayden shrugs. “She’s a real witch queen sometimes but Jenna’s here so she knows I won’t die,” he says jabbing his thumb over his shoulder to where she is in the water.

“No promises, B.”

Adam laughs, showing a set of near perfect teeth. Just when he thought Adam couldn’t get to be anymore perfect than he already is. In Brayden’s mind he looks pathetic standing next to Adam, but somehow he still wanted to hang out with him.

A bit more times goes by, everyone is swimming and having fun with ample water fights and making fun of Willis for his matted down curls. By around midnight, everyone had gone up to bed except for Adam and Brayden, the two of them still bobbing around in the water talking about anything and everything.

Brayden is perched on the side of the pool and Adam stands on his knees in the shallow end.

“So… what’s your girl back home like?” Adam asks suddenly, shimmying a bit towards him. Brayden cocks his head to the side, a piece of damp hair coming out of the rest and gently hangs over his forehead. His face gets hot but it’s hidden by the slight sunburn he received golfing earlier on that day.

“I already told you. I don’t have one.”

“And I’m still calling bullshit on it!” Adam exclaims, flopping his hands down into the water and splashing Brayden a bit.

Brayden’s eyes go wide for a second before slipping into the water. “Why is it so hard to believe, eh? I don’t have a girlfriend. Never have.”

Adam rolls his eyes and smiles that perfect smile once more, getting even closer to Brayden and puts his hands on the side of the pool, trapping Brayden against the wall.

“Liar.” He smirks and laughs but doesn’t budge. 

From this angle Brayen nearly loses his mind. Adam is so close that he can now see the hints of the smile lines in the corners of his eyes. His eyes seem so much more blue with the reflection of the water casting a glow on them. 

It’s no mystery to anyone that Adam is big. Nearly 6’5 and muscle all over, it’s hard for Brayden not to notice the water droplets that cling to his biceps and chest. His hair is slicked back with water and a little bit of stubble accompanies Adam’s moustache. 

Adam on the other hand also takes in Brayden’s features. He’s boyish, he’s noticed that before. Brayden is sort of wiry and pale, ribs sticking out a bit and just a small bit of definition in his arms.

But Adam can’t help but notice the freckles on Brayden’s nose and cheeks that he never really paid attention to before. Looking up at his eyes, Adam contemplates his thoughts. Brayden had always thought his eyes were boring, a dull grey with sure, maybe a bit of brown and green in them but nothing special. Nothing anyone would find desirable.

Adam on the other hand momentarily forgets how to breathe looking at them.

Brayden coughs a little and Adam back away. “Well I guess the women in Calgary have developed no taste since I left.” He shrugs and tugs at Brayden’s arm to coax him further into the pool.

Brayden smiles and rolls his eyes, also attempting to get the blush to disappear from his face but failing miserably. Adam doesn’t help his case when he gives Brayden a look up and down.

“We gotta start coming out here in the sun or else I’ll be able to see through you by the end of this vacation.”

Brayden playfully slapped some water in Adam’s direction and lunged after him. “Fuck you, Lowry.”

-

Christmas Eve comes up on them quickly and Brayden honestly couldn’t be more excited. Sam and Paul already stopped by in the morning to make sure what their grandmother is serving is okay.

Brayden finds himself being tugged into the De Melo condo unit by Paul, who wraps a large arm around his shoulders. He quickly ushers him into the living room and makes quick work of grabbing him a beer.

He wanders towards the bathroom before he sits himself down to wait for Paul and notices some movement down the hall, door wide open to Sam’s room. Brayden pokes his head in and notices someone very out of place sitting on her bed.

Mark is there flipping through a book that Brayden can’t seem to read the title of and they lock eyes.

“Scheifele.”

“Point.” 

Mark looks at Brayden with almost a small plea and he simply nods in understanding and backs out of the room to wash his hands and join the older De Melo sibling.

Within the next few minutes, the group starts filing in and the smell of potatoes and chourico wafts out of the kitchen. Paul and Sam’s grandmother has left the food in the oven but is off with some of her friends, leaving them by themselves.

Once everyone gets there, the group seat themselves down at the table and Adam slides up beside Brayden, placing a drink down in front of the shorter boy. He looks at it in confusion.

“I tend bars in Winnipeg. I thought maybe you’d like this one that I serve all the time,” Adam says quietly close to his ear and smiles softly as he backs up. Brayden’s neck goes hot and he thanks him.

What all Blake, Mark and Adam really didn’t realize is that Brayden is hilariously witty when he’s been drinking. His little off hand comments at things that usually Will says always send the whole table into a laughing fit. Blake nearly choked on a piece of carrot because of it at some point around halfway through dinner.

But some of the comments that Brayden makes only carry to Adam, making him snort with laughter at impromptu times throughout the meal and casting a look of confusion to the rest of the group.

Jenna smiles around her fork full of rice and winks at Brayden causing him to go a little bug eyed. He turns back to his food and he’s suddenly hyper aware of how close he and Adam are to each other, shoulders almost brushing. 

The rest of the evening goes by really well, everyone chatting about their holiday traditions and drinking well into the evening. Mark has an arm thrown over the back of the couch he and Sam are sharing and Brayden takes a quick glance beside him, noticing that Adam is doing the same thing with where they’re sitting. 

Something bubbles down in the pit of Brayden’s stomach and it’s almost as if he can hear his mother lecturing him on how that isn’t a way that you sit with other boys. He slinks down further into the couch and the voices of his friends are drowned out by his thoughts.

It’s late when Brayden excuses himself from the small gathering, telling everyone that he needs to get back to his place or else his mother is going to start looking for him. Adam’s face falls a bit when Brayden rushes out the door, haphazardly tugging on his shoes and jacket.

Brayden leaves the condo in a hurry with plans to just go back home and crash for the night, pretending he doesn’t keep thinking about certain thoughts.

He turns down the stairwell instead and starts walking.

-

The streets are surprisingly quiet for Christmas Eve, but Brayden still notices the houses that he passes filled with families eating and drinking and laughing. Enjoying each other.

He still isn’t used to seeing Christmas trees and twinkly lights without them being accompanied by snow and skates. But there’s a breeze coming off of the water not too far from him and for a second he feels at home.

Brayden doesn’t know how long he wanders around the streets of Largo and closer to the heart of Clearwater, but he ends up at a place that he knows all too well. A place that he certainly doesn’t ever think he would be willingly going into on his own.

A familiar sweet, musty smell greets him and he walks in. The soft glow of the candles to his right ease him a bit but walking further into the building he sees numerous couples, families and just overall people sitting back or on their knees.

Brayden takes a seat in the pew furthest in the back and close to the aisle. The sounds that the wood of the pews make as an older man shifts around and the page turning calms Brayden slightly.

He thinks. He takes everything around him in. The same stained glass window that he stares at during mass catches his eye one more time, only now without the sun peeking through and casting a colourful glow on the people. 

Brayden drops down to his knees on the light green cushion and clasps his hands together, resting his head on them. He is not sure what he’s praying for; he’s always found this part hard. To find the right words, the right thoughts about the right people.

But he finds himself thinking about Adam. More specifically, how Adam makes him feel. It’s like there’s something growing inside of him, something he can’t explain. 

Riley has told him about what it feels like when you really love a person. There was this one girl that he went out with for about three years. He loved her. But then she broke his heart, cheated on him and left town to go live with this other dude in New Mexico. Ever since then Brayden didn’t believe that he'd ever be able to simply even like someone in fear of the relationship following in the same footsteps of that of his brother.

But something tells him that it could be good, and that there’s just a small part of him that thinks it would be able to happen with someone like Adam.

His mom has given him the speech time and time again in a pew much like the one he is currently sitting in, but it’s never stuck. Brayden knows he doesn’t like girls, but he doesn’t think anyone will want to believe that’s true.

He didn’t want to believe it’s true for a long time, and honestly still doesn’t. He’s never met another man like him and he’s terrified to try and track one down.

So Brayden prays for forgiveness. He prays that maybe one day things will change; he’ll find a nice girl and settle down and they’ll be in love. White picket fence, he’ll have a boring nine to five job and she’ll make him dinner every night. Just like his mom wants. 

He prays to be normal.

He shuffles up off of his knees and leans back in the pew again. Most of the people are gone now with only a couple left. The church feels cold all of a sudden, a chill cutting through Brayden’s jacket and working it’s way down his spine. He shivers and rises to his feet, side stepping out of the pew. 

His footsteps echo on the hardwood flooring and soft music plays closer to the entranceway. Before he makes it to the door, his foot slips a little on the ground. He stops in his tracks to notice a little piece of paper resting there with the slight impression of his shoe on it.

He bends down and picks it up, a small photo of a cross at the top and a verse underneath are printed on the front.

_Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres. - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7_

He stares at it for a while, taking it in and reading the words over and over again until he can practically recite it back. He lifts his head and runs and a hand through his hair, looking over his shoulder at the front of the church.

Suddenly that chill in his spine is gone, and that feeling growing in his stomach now feels welcomed just a bit more. He doesn’t want to get rid of it, ignore it. But rather embrace it. Brayden smiles to himself and tucks the card into his back pocket.

Just when he’s about to leave, an older lady gently touches him on the shoulder and grins up at him.

“Everything is going to be alright, baby.” She hums and walks away.

He believes her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> find me on tumblr @bitchasslowry


	3. Wouldn't It Be Nice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Google Maps for this one... now that's commitment.

He’s not going to lie, Brayden running away last night sort of hurt Adam’s feelings. He thought they were having fun, but the longer the night stretched on the more uncomfortable Brayden looked.

Walking back to his condo with Blake and Mark, Adam can’t help but feel a little disappointed. He kicks off his shoes and shucks off his shirt and slightly too tight pants, slipping under the cool sheets and spreading out on his back. 

He’s never met anyone like Brayden before. Blake is very stoic and serious about a lot of things, truly the dad of their friend group and being the captain of their hockey team at the U of M only fueled that fire. Mark is an interesting guy that Adam took a while to figure out, but he quickly became his best friend after a few months of classes with him. Brayden though, it’s only been a week since he first met him yet he knows there’s something special about him.

Brayden makes Adam feel something that he’s really only felt a couple times before, only that was with women. He has this urge to brush his hand through his usually perfectly slicked hair and just hold him.

He’s so much smaller than Adam that it isn’t hard to see that his head would fit perfectly under Adam’s chin if they were to hug. That keeps Adam up at night.

While Brayden, unbeknownst to Adam, is at the church attempting to figure himself out, Adam is coming to the conclusion that he has a small crush on Brayden. Which he really, really shouldn’t for a long list of reasons.

Adam knows he likes men in the same way he likes women, and he’s eternally grateful for his friends who all accept him for who he is and don’t question it. But the fact that Brayden just turned 18 is a little unsettling for him. He’s practically a kid yet Adam is 21 and nearly done with his degree and will be heading to teachers college soon. Great. 

He runs his hands down his face and rests them on his chest. Usually he can hear someone puttering around on the other side of the far wall of his bedroom but tonight there’s nothing. Adam falls asleep to dead silence.

-

Brayden is still asleep at 10am in the morning but is awakened by something heavy laying on top of him.

“Bray, get up! Everyone is waiting for you!” Kade squeaks and hits him a bit on the upper arm. Brayden groans and shoves at him to get off which he does. 

It takes him a few minutes but he eventually slides himself out of his bed and pads to the living room where the small Christmas tree in the corner is decked out with presents underneath it.

His mom hands him a cup of tea fixed the way he likes along with some sweet bread Sam and Paul’s grandmother had dropped off earlier that morning.

Brayden is slightly regretting staying out so late last night, but he felt so much lighter. The little card now sits the drawer beside his bed and tucked into his copy of War and Peace for safe keeping.

The morning goes well and the presents Brayden receives are cute and thoughtful, lots of stuff for when he eventually heads off to university next year and some clothes. The usual. 

He spends the rest of the day mostly sitting outside on the small balcony off of his room that looks out onto the third hole of the on-site golf course. He’s out there sipping on a glass of some sort of fruit juice that they had bought from the 7-11 earlier on that week when Riley pokes his head out the sliding glass door to get Brayden’s attention.

“Some dude is here to see you,” he says and immediately goes back into the condo. Brayden huffs and shuffles himself inside to see who’s at the door. When he gets there his stomach drops a little bit.

Adam is leaning up against the door frame and is lightly chewing on the arm of his sunglasses that he had taken off, showing off his blue eyes.

The corner of Adam’s mouth twitches up a little when he sees Brayden and he scuffs his boot on the concrete of the outdoor hallway.

“Hey.”

Brayden smiles a little. “Hi.”

A quick awkward silence fell over the two of them and Adam looked past Brayden for a moment. He turns around to notice that Kade is staring at them while colouring in a little book he got that morning. Brayden huffs and gently pushes at Adam’s chest to get him out of the doorway. He follows and closes the door behind him. 

“I, uh, just want to make sure you’re okay… You kinda left early last night,” Adam explains playing with his belt loops a bit and looking down at Brayden.

He lets out a sigh and runs a hand through his hair, messing it up a little bit before responding to the older man. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Just a lot on my mind. I’m okay though.” Adam nods and takes a small step closer to Brayden. He reaches out and adjusts the collar on his shirt. It’s a light salmon colour and Adam thinks it compliments Brayden’s skin tone nicely.

Brayden can’t help but look up at him through his lashes and smile at him. Adam clears his throat and jabs a finger back towards the parking lot in the general direction of his car, freshly washed.

“Wanna go for a drive to the ocean?” He asks and Brayden nods enthusiastically. He backs away and excuses himself to get his wallet and swim shorts to the request of Adam before leaving. He lets out a half-assed explanation to where he’s going to his family and nearly runs out the door.

Him and Adam make their way down to the car and slide in, just like they had done a few nights ago. Adam turns over the engine and throws an arm behind Brayden. He can feel Adam’s fingers lightly dragging along the top of his shoulder and even a faint touch to the longer hairs on the back of his neck.

Brayden cranes his neck up and to the side to look at Adam who shoots him a toothy grin. Brayden returns it and leans forward to press play on the stereo system.

Adam puts the car in reverse and set’s off to inner Clearwater.

-

The day is honest to God one of the best Christmas’ Brayden has ever had. He can tell that Adam is still a little bit nervous due to his departure last night, but as the afternoon progressed the more he opened up to Brayden.

They go down to John’s Pass again and mostly just stroll up and down the boardwalk while sipping on some freshly squeezed lemonade. Adam talks about his brother and his parents who are back in Canada celebrating the holidays. He talks about hockey with a passion, telling Brayden about the team he plays for.

Brayden hangs onto every word Adam says, taking it all in. This is the first time he actually sees Adam show his kid side, not being all smooth and quite frankly intimidating sometimes. It’s nice; Brayden could definitely get used to it.

The two boys find themselves still down there well into the evening, evident by the setting sun. It’s the same as the first night Brayden and Adam had come down here, maybe the colours are a little vibrant in the sky but Adam can only pay attention to Brayden who is laying down beside him on the sand.

Last year him and his uncle had come down here and found this little alcove of secluded beach, and from the looks of it no one else had found it since. It’s about a fifteen minute walk from the parking lot to the beach, but Brayden didn’t seem to mind it especially when his ears perked up at the sound of silence. 

He’s on his back, eyes closed and soaking up the last bit of the sun until it disappears behind the line of skyscrapers across the water. Both of them have since shed their shirts and changed into the swim shorts they brought and Adam can’t help but look at him. His skin has tanned a bit more since the last time they went swimming and the orange glow that surrounds them only seems to make it more prominent. 

Brayden’s hair has also gotten a little longer and now without any gel or product in it, it flows a bit in the salty sea air. Adam is sitting up on his elbows and thanks his former self for wearing his sunglasses that are currently shielding Brayden from noticing his eyes raking up and down his body.

“Do you ever think about going to Orlando?” Bryaden says suddenly making Adam jump a bit, but he settles back and lays down all the way next to Brayden and possibly even shuffling a little closer.

Adam raises his eyebrows a little and turns his head to look at the smaller boy. “Uh, yeah. I’ve been there once before and Mark was talking about maybe going for a day soon. Why do you ask?”

Brayden hums, opens his eyes and turns his own head towards Adam. Their faces are less than 20 centimetres apart now and Adam’s breath sort of hitches in his throat.

“We should go.”

Adam takes off his sunglasses and turns up the corner of his mouth in a small smirk. “I think your parents would kill me in my sleep…”

“Nah, they go for a small weekend getaway together up in Tampa for like three days over New Years every time they come here. I bet you right now my mother is packing and giving Riley and Kade the third degree about not doing anything stupid while they’re gone.”

Adam nods a little bit. “Are you asking me to take you and your brothers to Orlando?”

“No,” Brayden says shrugging. Taking in a shaky breath he continues, “I’m asking if you want to go to Orlando with me. Just the two of us for the day.”

The two of them exchange smiles. “Aren’t you going to get that talk too? Isn’t this under the ‘stupid decision’ category?”

“Not if it’s with you.”

Before he knows it, Brayden is attempting to yank Adam up off of the sand, which is a sight on it’s own, but the big smile on his face makes Adam’s heart swell.

He fills his car up with gas on the way home.

-

Brayden was right in telling Adam about getting lectured when his parents leave for Tampa. His mother spends around half an hour reminding him not to go anywhere and also shoving a list of recipes in Riley’s hands. Kade sits on the couch trying to suppress a laugh at his mom’s frenzy. 

He had told Adam that he would be down at the car ready to go at 8am that next morning after Brayden’s parents left. 

Now this wasn’t the first time Brayden, Riley and Kade have gone off to do their own thing during those three treasured days they get to be alone. About two years ago they made a pact that as long as this kept going on, nothing that was done during that three day window would ever get back to their parents.

Kade had already told Riley and Brayden that he was going to sleep over at one of his friend’s condos for the two nights and Riley had plans to bring a girl over that he’s been seeing for the last couple days. Brayden absentmindedly told his brothers that he was going on a road trip to Orlando with Adam and they didn’t really seem to care, so he didn’t elaborate. The less they knew the better.

In the morning the three of them reconvene with each other to devise a plan if for some reason their parents came home early, shake hands like some sort of business men, laughed about it and set on their ways.

It’s early and there's still dew on the grass but Adam is waiting, pressed up against his car and picking at his fingernails. Brayden thinks he looks good, still with hair a little ruffled and a cream button up with brown floral designs open to reveal his chest again. Brayden has a fleeting thought that he looks pretty.

“I hope you know you’re a little shit.”

Brayden smiles and tosses his bag into the backseat through the open window of the car. “I know, but you like it.”

Adam nearly screams yes in his head, but externally he only shakes his head and hums in agreement. Adam trots himself around to the passenger side door and opens it up, gesturing for Brayden to get in. He tries to suppress a grin but fails. It seems to be a running theme when they are around each other.

Adam shuts the door and takes a long, deep breath as he walks around the back to get to the drivers side, trying to compose himself. He tosses his keys up in the air for a second and catches them, now finally sliding himself into the car.

-

The car ride is average to say the least. It’s just a lot of trees and seemingly endless interstate. Brayden marvels at the size of some high school in Tampa and Adam thinks to himself that he could get used to that look on his face.

After about an hour of driving, they finally see the overhead sign signaling which exit they need to take to get into Orlando. Both of their faces light up and Brayden hits Adam on the arm a little bit in simple excitement. 

They pull up to a spot just on the outskirts of inner Orlando and off of International Drive. Brayden sends a look of confusion to Adam who just smiles.

“I went here with Mark last year and I swear it is the best pizza and bread sticks you will ever eat.”

Turns out Adam is correct and Brayden is nearly put into a food coma in the first fifteen minutes they are there. Between the bread sticks drenched in butter and the vegetarian pizza they order to share, he starts thinking that Adam is going to have to roll him out of the place.

Munching on a piece of crust Brayden looks out the window at the passers by. Kids with Disney World shirts and couples holding hands stroll past the window overlooking the small quarry across the road.

He doesn’t notice but Adam is gazing somewhat lovingly at him while sipping on his Diet Coke. Adam decides to make a move - hardly bold but still a move nonetheless. He stretches out his leg a little bit and taps Brayden’s ankle with it. He immediately turns his head at Adam’s actions. His foot pokes a little bit more, lifting the hem of the grey plaid pants that Brayden is sporting and just rests his foot there.

Brayden leans on his hand and blushes slightly. Adam silently winks which only makes Brayden’s blush an even darker red. Adam chews on his straw and pulls out his wallet, throws a few bills on the table and nods his head in the direction of the door. He gets up and Brayden follows.

Once they get back in the car Brayden kind of huffed. “You have to stop paying for my food…”

Adam shrugs his shoulders and shuffles in his seat a little bit. “I don’t mind, really. It’s kind of nice to do it. I haven’t been able to in a long time,” he mumbles out with just a hint of a smile twitching up in the corners of his mouth.

Brayden blinks and silently freaks out in his mind for a second before sinking back into the passenger seat a little bit more. He nods and honestly isn’t sure whether or not Adam saw. He starts the car anyways and backs himself out of the parking spot.

“Have you ever been to the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village before?”

-

Even if it isn’t really Disney, it still feels magical for some odd reason Brayden can’t place. He makes a mental note to eventually take Kade here. Hell, even Riley would have fun here.

The two boys walk around for a while, perusing in shops and taking in the surroundings. Everything is still fairly new, only being built in ‘75, and the pure excitement on the faces of everyone about it is priceless. 

Adam and Brayden end up sitting themselves down on a grassy bank by the lake, their shoulders pressed up close together. Across the water is a large sign for a movie theater which is apparently showing Star Wars: A New Hope. Brayden points it out.

“Have you seen it yet?”

Adam glaces in the direction that he’s pointing and nods. “Of course I have. I think Blake would have killed me if I didn’t go,” he chuckles out.

“Riley definitely has a thing for Leia.”

Adam nods carefully. “So does Wheels.” There’s a tense pause between the two of them until Adam clears his throat. “I’m more into Luke but that’s a personal opinion.”

Brayden sucks in a breath and suddenly it feels like the stars have aligned, his acne has been cleared and world peace has finally been achieved. Brayden starts playing around with the thin bracelet secured to his wrist that Kade had made him a few days ago. Flames colours - very fitting.

Whatever possessed him in that moment must be really fucking bold because even Brayden is shocked by what comes out of his mouth. 

“Meh, he’s alright. Han Solo on the other hand…”

Adam’s head snaps in Brayden’s direction and his eyes are really wide. Brayden lifts his head that is pointed straight down at the ground to lock eyes with Adam. Now it was his turn to send him a small smile.

“So you like ‘em tall, dark and horrendously sarcastic. Noted.”

“I never took you for the kind of guy to like the small and feisty type.”

Adam shifts closer to Brayden and whips his head around to make sure no one is around them. He then removes his hand from his pocket and reaches over, linking his pinky finger with Brayden’s smaller one.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

Brayden thinks he may have a heart attack right there on the spot.

-

They drive back to Clearwater after they eat dinner at a small sandwich place close to where they were sitting, and to say that the atmosphere around Adam and Brayden is different would be an understatement. With the new found knowledge of each other, Brayden can’t help but think that all of this, whatever it may be, will come to a screeching halt in a week's time.

He’ll go back to Calgary and Adam will go back to Winnipeg and they’ll never see each other again. Simple as that. But he decides to push that to the back of his mind and shift closer to Adam. He wraps his arms around the smaller boy and Brayden’s heart flutters.

“Is this okay?” Adam asks hesitantly. Brayden just snuggles in a little bit and gently rests his head on Adam’s shoulder. He’s never done anything like this before - maybe with Jenna like once because they were on a road trip in Wisconsin and _twelve_ \- so he was kind of freaking out internally. Everything seems to calm down a little when Adam starts tracing small circles on Brayden’s bicep as he turns onto the on-ramp of the I-4.

-

Two hours later they’re back but still wide awake. Besides, it’s only around 9 so Adam takes the liberty in driving right past the entrance to the condos and closer back to John’s Pass.

Adam pulls up in his regular parking spot and starts walking over towards the semi-secret path that leads to the secluded cove.

Once again the sun is nearly all the way down and the bay looks as pretty as ever. Adam is quickly peeling off his shirt and walking into the water, now with his swim shorts on. Brayden follows suit quickly after.

They wade in the water a bit until it’s dark out but slowly start migrating towards each other over time. The air is cool above them so they sink low in the water and continue talking.

“So… plans for New Years?” Brayden asks, playing around with a piece of grass that he found floating around.

“Probably going down to the main beach with Blake and Mark. You?”

He shrugs and tosses the piece of grass away. “Sounds fun. I’ve always hated New Years.”

Adam cocks his head to the side in slight confusion.

“It’s the same shtick as Valentine’s Day; I’m always left in the corner by myself because everyone else has someone to ring in the New Year with. If you catch my drift.”

“And you never have anyone to do that with because you-”

“Yeah.” He responds nodding and huffing out a breath. “Liking guys isn’t exactly… great, to a lot of people.”

Adam nods and steps forward a bit. “Yeah. I get that.”

There’s the second pregnant pause of the day surrounding this subject, and yet again Brayden decides to speak his mind. “That’s why when you asked me, if I ever had a girlfriend, I said no.”

A small snort comes from Adam and Brayden just smiles at it, asking what it was about.

“I just- I totally thought you would have been a ladies man,” he explains, now laughing a bit. Brayden shakes his head and breaks out into a big smile. He doesn’t know why but he feels comfortable talking to Adam about this stuff; probably because he would never in a million years talk about it with anyone else. They just wouldn’t understand.

“Oh my god, no. I’m like, _totally_ lame. A real fucking big square.”

“I don’t believe that for a second. I haven’t since I met you,” Adam says smirking.

Brayden playfully rolls his eyes and splashes his hands down in the water to make small ripples. “I was in the yearbook club, never kissed anyone and I genuinely like math. Like I said, _square_.”

Adam, in record time, replies. “Maybe I could change that?”

Brayden blinks at him a few times. “I have the unit circle memorized at this point, man. There’s no forgetting that.”

“No,” Adam sighs a bit, moving in closer. “Not that part.”

Brayden feels Adam’s large hand slide along his waist and rest itself there. He looks up a little more to see Adam giving him a small, genuine smile. The water is warm but somehow the skin that Adam is touching seems to be on fire, causing a pit in his stomach and his throat to momentarily close up. 

“Oh.”

He reaches up with the hand not connected to Brayden’s waist and resets it on his shoulder, toying with the longer hair behind his ear.

“Yeah… oh.”

Brayden has a short moment of panic where he has absolutely zero thoughts. His brain just seemed to shut off out of shock because _Adam Lowry wants to kiss him_. He wants to die; for a solid ten minutes of awkward silence he’s left himself standing there staring at Adam all wide eyed. 

“You- you don’t have to. But, um, yeah.”

Brayden takes his own leap of faith and steps even closer, his whole body now nearly pressed up against Adam’s much larger frame. 

He nods and Adam takes that as a yes. 

Adam dips his head down to Brayden’s level and the shorter boy sort of cranes up a bit. Brayden is clearly no expert in relationships or kissing anyone, but he definitely feels something and it makes his stomach do this flip flopping thing when Adam’s lips finally touch his.

It’s a lot different than what Riley has told him about kissing girls. According to him you have to be gentle and take charge; hold their waist and push into it to make them feel almost smaller than you. But every sensation that Brayden is currently feeling could not be any more different than that.

His hands are resting on Adam’s impeccably toned chest and he can feel one of the large hands that he’s thought about so much slide around and rest on the small of his back.

The kiss itself is slow and almost lazy with Adam waiting a few seconds before actually starting to move his mouth to part Brayden’s lips. Brayden feels the light poke of Adam’s tongue on his bottom lip and takes it as a queue to open his mouth slightly.

As Adam licks ever so lightly into his mouth, Brayden feels the slight scratch of his moustache on his upper lip. There’s a faint burning sensation from the scratch but at this moment Brayden couldn't care less.

He holds back, but he almost whimpers when Adam pulls away but is quite satisfied when he pecks Brayden’s lips one last time before shifting backwards. He raises his eyebrows at Brayden and he can only just pant a bit in response.

“So you’ve really never done that before?” Adam asks, his thumb gently gliding over the dip in Brayden’s spine underwater.

“Yeah… it was noticeable wasn’t it?” Brayden mumbles out looking down at the water and sinking lower. Adam follows him down and brings both of his arms to wrap around Brayden’s waist, tugging him in close and flipping him around so that Brayden’s back is pressed up against his front.

Adam leans down a bit and drags his lips along Brayden’s shoulder moving towards his neck, the skin there pink from either his blush or a faint sunburn for earlier on in the day. “If I didn’t know any better I would have thought you’ve been doing that for years.”

Adam presses another feather-light kiss right under Brayden’s jaw which sends a shudder all throughout his body. He relaxes back into Adam and tilts his head up and to the side to look at him.

“Nothing a little practice won’t help.” Adam breaks out in a smile and shakes his head a little.

“I’m corrupting you.”

“I’ll let it slide; it’s not every day you get to say that the hot guy you met in Florida turns you into a slightly different person,” Brayden explains bumping his nose into Adam’s cheek and quickly presses his lips there too. Both of the boys grin wide at each other and share a few more gentle and tentative kisses while the moon peeks out from the clouds. Brayden groans and pulls back yet again and rests his head on Adam's shoulder.

“We should get back,” he explains and Adam agrees. “But I honestly don’t want to listen to my brother and whatever flavour of the week he’s on do it in the room next to me.”

Adam snorts out a laugh and somehow hugs Brayden even closer to him. “Just come over to mine. Scheifs and Wheels could care less, trust me.”

Brayden thinks about it for a couple seconds; his parents won’t be home for another day and his brothers are aware of his absence, so he agrees and Adam drags him out of the water and tosses a towel his way.

Walking back to the car, John’s Pass is nearly completely empty other than some of the staff cleaning up and the final stragglers from the bars hopping into cabs to take them home. Adam chucks their stuff into the backseat of his car and they both crawl in.

“Does anyone know?” Brayden asks. Adam furrows his eyebrows as he clicks on the radio and lets the Beach Boys flow through the car. “That you like guys.”

“Oh.” Adam blinks for a second and nods his head. “Mark and Blake. And now you I guess.”

They quiet down as Adam pulls the car out back onto the main road and begins driving to the bridge to take them over towards Largo. Adam clears his throat and drops a hand off of the steering wheel to gently rest it on Brayden’s thigh.

“Look… I’ve never really felt _this_ with a guy before.”

“This?”

“Actually wanting to, ya know, go out.” Brayden just nods his head can’t help but feel almost special. His mind starts running about the fact Adam has probably done so much more with so many other guys, and girls for that matter, yet he’s the first one that he actually wants to stay with. Brayden takes in a long, deep breath in an attempt to not look like he’s freaking out a little bit inside.

“Oh,” Brayden manages to squeak out. They roll up to a stop sign that seems to be in the middle of almost nowhere and rest there for a second after taking a glance around to see no other cars around them.

Adam sits back and runs a hand through his hair once before turning to Brayden. “I know it’s… risky to say the least, but I’d really want to take you out. Like, on a proper date.”

Brayden just nods, quite furiously to be honest, and beams up at Adam. “Really?”

Adam smiles and rolls his eyes playfully at him. “You’re kind of like everything I’ve ever wanted in someone so, yeah. Really.”

That’s a conversation for another time, so Brayden just slides himself over and leans in to lock his lips onto Adam’s for a split second. “Okay.”

The two of them drive back to the condos in relative silence, letting the music from the radio and the traffic from the interstate lull them into a calm state. Adam nearly has to drag Brayden up to his condo and convince him to change into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt Adam offers him.

It’s weird to both of them to go to sleep that night; Brayden in a place he’s never been to before and surrounded by the smell of someone else, and Adam with the boy he’s sort of been pining after since he first met him now snuggled up to his side.

Brayden is used to smelling the heavy lemon fragrance from his mother’s obsessive furniture polishing and the chemical stench of Windex. But now here with Adam, it’s all musky smells of oak and rye and aftershave with dark sheets and deep brown dressers and nightstands.

Adam slides in under the sheets with Brayden and stays on his back for a while, scared to pull Brayden close in fear that everything is moving too fast. He’s fine with it, but he realizes that Brayden has probably never done anything past holding someone’s hand and he’s being exposed to this whole new world by a guy he meets on vacation. Adam is pretty sure his mom has a book on her shelf back home that has this exact plot line except there's a lot less clothes and it’s horrendously straight. Adam suppresses a gag thinking about it.

But before he can let his mind wander any further about his mother’s books about handy men and women who can’t find enough money to pay him, God help him, he feels a heavy and quite fluffy weight on his chest. He looks down and sees that Brayden has wiggled his way over towards him and has placed his head on top of him. 

Adam sort of burrows his face into Brayden’s hair and smiles into it. His arm snakes around and holds Brayden close to him. Brayden can feel the rise and fall of Adam’s chest underneath his head. Brayden clutches onto Adam’s abdomen and snuggles into the covers.

Brayden drifts off to sleep to the sound of Adam’s heartbeat and mumbles out a goodnight before finally letting himself go under.

It’s probably the best night’s sleep he’s had in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill! Come yell at me about hockey pairings and the boys in general on tumblr @bitchasslowry


	4. Do You Believe In Magic?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has some light smut so just be warned for that. I can't believe I'm almost done this fic, oh my god. Anyways, enjoy chapter four!

Brayden wakes up alone, a cold spot next to him where Adam used to be and the curtains pulled back to let in the light of the early morning. He gets up and shuffles over to slip on his pants from yesterday but keeps Adam’s shirt on.

When he walks out into the living room he sees Mark out on the small balcony sipping from a cup and sends him a little wave through the screen door. Brayden’s cheeks flame red and Mark chuckles to himself. Blake’s bedroom door is still closed but Adam on the other hand has his back to him doing something on the stove.

Brayden’s sock feet pad along the carpet silently and slides himself across the tile of the small kitchen to get to Adam. His shirt is about a size too small for him and it clings onto his back muscles in a delicious way that Brayden just can’t resist. He reaches out and runs his hands down until they’re resting on the small of his back.

“Goodmorning,” he mumbles in Adam’s ear, standing on his tippy toes to get there in the first place. Adam turns his head to flash a smile before connecting their lips together for a quick kiss. 

The whole situation is horrendously domestic and Brayden feels this odd yet welcomed sensation in his stomach. It’s another bubbling feeling that he wouldn’t mind doing this often, but he can really only picture Adam being the person there with him.

He shakes the thought out of his mind and walks himself over to the counter and hops up on top of it fairly close to the stove. Adam is flipping pancakes that appear to have little blueberries nestled inside them.

“Trying to impress me?” Brayden asks with a smirk. 

“Yeah he is,” Mark pipes up before Adam can answer. He must have come inside while Brayden wasn’t paying attention and is now placing his empty coffee mug in the sink. “Buddy, I didn’t even know you _could_ make pancakes.”

Adam shrugs. “I’m a man of mystery.”

“Or I’m just not pretty enough to make pancakes for. It’s fine! I’ll survive,” Mark throws his hands up dramatically and Adam turns around and smacks him in the arm. Brayden starts to laugh and soon the two other boys join in. 

Mark buries himself deeper into his U of M Pre Law hoodie and moves himself over to the living room and busies himself with reading what looks like A Clockwork Orange, tuning Adam and Brayden out who are still in the kitchen.

Adam finishes up the pancakes and slides a few onto the large plate he got out of the cupboard and drizzles some syrup on them along with a little butter. He hands it over to Brayden who immediately tucks into his food.

“For such a small guy you can _eat_ , holy shit,” Adam chuckles while watching him shove in almost a full half of a pancake into his mouth, a small bit of the syrup coating his lips. His tongue darts out and licks it off which Adam smirks at.

The two of them eat in relative silence, the only soundtrack being Mark occasionally flipping a page and what sounds like Blake shuffling around in his room. 

Brayden still feels a little strange being here after sleeping over with Adam. Not even twenty four hours ago he was questioning himself about what he feels for Adam, yet here he is. He’s happy but he’s still scared as to what’s to come.

It’s December 31st, New Year’s Eve, and Brayden will be leaving on the 7th of January in order to get Kade back to Calgary in time for school. He doesn’t want to think about it; having to go back to Alberta while Adam lives it up in the Peg, so he pushes it to the furthest part in the back of his mind and just enjoys his pancakes.

-

Brayden’s parents end up calling the condo and telling them that they will be coming home early instead of spending New Year’s Eve in Tampa which means that the three brothers have to be home in time for them to drive the half hour back to Largo.

Riley is the one who gets the call and ends up going on a manhunt for his brothers and eventually manages to wrangle them back home while simultaneously kicking out the girl he had over. Kade begrudgingly leaves his friend’s place and Brayden makes his way back next door.

“You’re gonna hang out with everyone tonight, right?” Adam asks, leaning himself on the doorway of his place as he watches Brayden leave. The group is planning on meeting at John’s Pass, at the request of Brayden, for New Year’s for dinner and hanging out at the pier before fireworks over the bay.

“Of course!”

Adam smiles and nods at Brayden who quickly looks around him to see if anyone is nearby. Once he comes to the conclusion that there aren’t any looming eyes, he leans up on his toes and gives Adam a quick kiss on the cheek before scampering off to his end of the hallway.

About ten minutes after Brayden gets back to the condo, his parents come in with their small suitcase in tow and greet them with enthusiasm. Brayden and Riley give each other pointed looks over the shoulders of their parents while they kick off their shoes. 

Brayden’s mom immediately scampers off to the kitchen to start making some food for dinner that evening. “Have you boys eaten breakfast?”

Riley and Kade both nod and trot themselves over to their rooms to avoid any questioning looks from their mother, leaving Brayden to fend for himself.

“But there’s no plates in the sink,” she points out. It’s true, the sink is still as clean as it was when their parents left but Brayden’s mom isn’t stupid. She has three young boys and they aren’t exactly the cleanest group of people in the world.

“Well… Adam invited me over for breakfast next door so I went. I didn’t think you would mind,” he responds. It’s not totally a lie, just a little fabrication.

His mom almost turned her nose up at his answer. “Do I know these boys?”

“I don’t think so. Adam’s kinda tall, ginger, has a moustache-”

“Brayden, that's a man.”

“Ah, so you _have_ seen him,” Brayden quips back and immediately regrets the words coming out of his mouth. His mother’s eyes widen and her mouth drops open a bit.

“Don’t use that tone with me, Brayden.”

Rolling his eyes probably wasn’t the best move on his part. 

“I’m looking out for your safety, Brayden! I leave for two days and suddenly you’re going over to strange men’s condos for breakfast!”

“He’s not a strange man, mother.” Brayden moves to grab an apple out of the little basket sitting on the kitchen counter and his mother throws her dishtowel down right next to his hand.

“Men who hang out with teenage boys only want one thing-”

Brayden, if it’s even possible, rolls his eyes even harder and attempts to keep his cool while his mother freaks out. “Oh my _God_ , he’s twenty one.”

His mother huffs and picks her tea towel back up. She turns her back to Brayden and he takes that as his cue to leave and scampers back to his room, slamming the door a bit just to make a scene. Being an angsty teenager has its perks sometimes. 

Within about ten minutes of Brayden getting back in his room he hears a small knock on the door.

“Brayden? Can I come in?” Kade asks, his voice a little bit high and wary. Brayden makes a grunting noise that Kade takes as a yes and opens his door slowly. He walks himself over to Brayden’s bed and sits on the edge very carefully. “I heard you and mom arguing… is everything okay?”

Brayden sits up and pulls a pillow to his chest. “Yeah, buddy, it’s fine.”

Kade stays silent for a little while longer until he moves to cross his legs on top of the comforter. “Do you like Adam?”

Brayden’s heart skips and he can already tell that his face is going beet red. “What- what do you mean?”

“When I was walking back home this morning I saw you come out of his condo… you kissed him on the cheek.” Kade looks apologetic and almost guilty, telling Brayden what he saw earlier that morning.

Brayden’s stomach drops and he feels his whole body tense up. Kade doesn’t look mad or grossed out like he expected him to be but it still makes Brayden continue to paick.

“Don’t tell mom and dad. Or Riley. It’s- it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

Kade nods and slides himself off of the bed and hesitates a bit before moving in to wrap Brayden in a hug. He tenses up again before slowly moving to wrap his arms around his little brother who is clinging onto the back of his t-shirt.

“I won’t tell, but I think you two are cute together,” Kade mumbles into Brayden’s shoulder before pulling back and scampering out of Brayden’s room to his own. 

Brayden is left to process everything that just happened and he can’t help but smile to himself as tears prickle the corners of his eyes. He hugs the pillow he’s holding closer to himself and flops back on his bed.

He can hear Adam yelling something at Mark from the other side of the wall. He laughs and turns on the radio.

\- 

Jenna shows up with Willis in tow at around four in the afternoon to Brayden’s condo, explaining to the Point family that they’re stealing him for the evening and going down to John’s Pass.

When Brayden emerges from his condo out onto the outdoor hallway Willis whistles obnoxiously which makes Jenna chuckle a bit.

“Trying to impress someone, buddy?” Willis pokes fun while sliding an arm around Jenna’s waist.

Brayden rolls his eyes and pushes past Will. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Willis is right though. Brayden has black, white and grey plaid pants on and a deep purple button up that his mother demanded he pack if they went out to dinner. He looks a little more put together than he usually does and he certainly stands out compared to Jenna and Willis who are dressed virtually the same as each other.

They both shake their heads and Willis nods his head in the direction of the stairs. “Blake will be pissed if we’re late and that man is nearly a foot taller than me… I don’t wanna be at the receiving end of him using his dad voice.”

Jenna’s parents let her use the car that evening so the three of them pile into the small, blue Volkswagen and pull out of the condo complex in the direction of Downtown Clearwater. Brayden is in the backseat and notices when Willis reaches over to rest his hand on Jenna’s thigh as she drives. It makes him think of Adam and he gets giddy remembering that his car was gone from the parking lot and so was Mark’s; a tell tale sign that they are already down at John’s Pass.

It doesn’t take too long for Jenna to weave her car in and out of traffic to finally pull her car into the parking lot. As soon as they get out of the car all Brayden can notice is that it’s ridiculously busy and nearly every restaurant is packed with every kind person you could imagine.

Thankfully Mark, the ever responsible person he is, made a reservation for them a few days ago so the three of them walk into the sports bar on the far left side of the boardwalk with ease.

Brayden immediately spots Adam in all his golden tanned glory that makes his stomach do the flopping thing that it does almost every time that he sees him. Sam and Paul are also there, Paul chatting with Blake about God knows what and Sam leaning against Mark and laughing about something.

“Well, we’re here now after Jen almost killed us on the interstate,” Willis complains but with a smile on his face.

“He cut _me_ off, asshole.”

The group laughs and Adam gets up to pull a chair out for Brayden. It looks harmless really, but Blake takes notice and smirks at Adam while he takes a sip of some fruity cocktail he ordered. Brayden blushes ever so slightly before sitting down and scooching himself in closer to the table.

Dinner goes well with everyone making their regular loud and obnoxious jokes that make all the middle aged women around them shoot dirty looks. Mark only gets a little bit plastered and Sam has to take care of him for the next little while, but she really doesn’t mind.

Fireworks are obviously scheduled for midnight so that leaves a few hours for the group to do whatever they want. Paul and Blake both opt for going on a little walk around but the others don’t care to join, leaving the six of them back at the boardwalk.

Jenna is sitting on top of the railing with most of their friends gathered around her, probably ranting about hockey which they have all recognized their mutual love for. But Brayden notices that Adam isn’t there and whips around to try and find him

In the slight distance, Adam is leaning back against his Charger; sleek, black and reflecting the setting sun over the boardwalk. He, nearly finishing his cigarette, catches the eye of Brayden and grins.

Honestly, he looks pretty and Brayden can’t help but stare a little bit. Adam hasn’t noticed him yet, instead he looks down at his shoes and takes a long drag from his cigarette. Brayden looks towards his friends before excusing himself quickly and skipping down the wooden stairs of the boardwalk. 

He shuffles over to Adam and takes refuge in leaning against the car with him. The two of them stare over the bay to the city of Clearwater on the other side. Adam’s sunglasses have slowly slipped down his nose. Brayden notices.

The younger boy pushes himself into the balls of his feet, takes a 360 look around him and then lightly moves Adam’s sunglasses into their rightful spot. 

The corner of Adam’s mouth twitches up in a smirk. Brayden’s fingers linger while pulling away, travelling them from Adam’s jaw and down his chest and abdomen. 

Jenna still seems to be in deep conversation with the rest of them, so he takes the time to hook his pinky finger into one of the belt loops of Adam’s blue jeans. 

This causes the older boy to look down to his right at the shorter of the two. Unlike Adam’s that are blocked, his eyes shine brightly in the low light, grey somehow electric and sending shivers up and down Adam’s spine. 

Adam peels off his sunglasses and makes eye contact with Brayden which for some reason sends the smaller boy into a fit of giggles.

Adam leans down and whispers lightly in Brayden’s ear to get in the car and he does. Their movement catches the corner of Sam’s eye so she spins around and yells at them.

“Where are you going?”

“We’ll be back soon don’t worry. Save us a spot for the fireworks, okay?” Brayden responds, lowering himself down into the passenger side. She shrugs her shoulders and turns back around to continue her conversation with the rest of the group.

Adam pulls the car around and starts driving out on the main road. Once he gets out of direct view from the vast majority of people mingling around John’s Pass Adam slides his hand over to Brayden and rests it on his upper-inner thigh.

Brayden’s breath hitches slightly in the back of his throat, but doesn’t let Adam notice it. He just runs his fingers up and down the veins in Adam’s arm and watches the impressive looking beach houses fly past them. 

He’s not sure where Adam is taking him. All Brayden knows is that it certainly isn’t somewhere he’s been before because before he knows it the car is turning down a back road only dotted with a few houses here and there.

The comfortable silence stays between the two of them until Adam pulls the car into a small alcove that leads out to a field and shifts the gears into park.

“You’re not going to kill me here are you?” Brayden asks playfully, smirking at Adam. He laughs and drags Brayden over closer to him. There’s a small street light a few meters away from them and it casts a warm glow onto Brayden’s face as Adam looks at him.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” Adam says absentmindedly running a knuckle along Brayden’s cheekbone which flames up in a pink colour. “I can’t believe I’m the first one to notice that.”

He dips down and presses feather light kisses to Brayden’s nose, cheeks and finally pulls him into a deep and languid kiss on his lips. Adam presses his tongue onto Brayden’s bottom lip and he takes it as a cue to separate his lips and let Adam in. 

It’s pretty clear that Adam is the one who takes a little bit more control in these kinds of situations, so Brayden lets him lick and explore into his mouth, lightly sucking on his tongue which causes a small whimper to fall out of Brayden. It makes Adam smirk into the kiss and he deepens it, if that was even possible.

Adam’s hands move lower and lightly palm Brayden’s ass through his pants which also makes Brayden let out a noise that he’s almost sure he’s never made before. Adam breaks away and begins kissing down his jaw, nipping at the pale skin near his ear that he seems to like.

“Tell me if this is too much, okay?” Adam says in a low voice. Brayden pulls him back by tugging on his hair lightly. 

“It’s not too much, Adam. I promise. I don’t think that anything you do right now could be too much.”

Adam almost growls at that and he pulls Brayden onto his lap, head nearly hitting the roof of the car. “You can’t say stuff like that, oh my god.”

Brayden cocks his head to the side and runs his hands up and down Adam’s chest, playing with the small necklace that hangs there. “Why?”

“Because there’s so many things that I want to do to you that I really shouldn’t want.”

Brayden’s feeling bold, something that seems to happen into the late hours of the night. He smirks and rolls his hips down a little bit to discover Adam’s getting hard in his jeans. Something about the fact that he’s doing this to him makes him proud.

“Tell me what you want, Adam.”

Neither of them thought this is where they would be on their Christmas vacation; out in the middle of a field making out with another guy that they met not even two weeks ago and grinding on each other about an hour before the ball drops for 1978.

Yet here they are, Adam taking in shaky breaths and Brayden still slowly rolling his hips down into Adam’s.

“I had a dream about you a couple of nights ago,” he starts, looking up and Brayden, his pupils blown wide. “Before we went to Orlando I-”

Brayden shifts himself which makes Adam hiss out. “Keep going.”

“I- It was here, in the car. And you were giving me a blow job. It sounds fucking _stupid_ now that I’m saying it out loud-”

“I want to.”

A heavy silence falls over the two of them for a couple seconds before Adam finally sputters something slightly coherent out. “You- you do?”

“What’s so difficult about understanding that I want to suck you dick? I mean, come on, look at you. And I can definitely feel that I won’t be disappointed,” Brayden says rolling his hips down especially hard. 

Adam’s jaw hands open. “Where did my innocent Brayden go?”

Brayden laughs and shuffles so he can pop open the driver’s side door and slide out. “Let’s just say that I’ve been enlightened.”

Adam exhales sharply in a laugh before he feels his arm being tugged on by Brayden. He climbs out of the car and gets shoved back against the now closed door, feeling Brayden rake his hands down his chest. Brayden drops down to his knees with a thud and takes a deep breath in.

“I’ve never done this before.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? You can stop anytime, baby.”

Brayden shudders at the pet name and begins unhooking Adam’s belt and working on the button and zipper of his jeans. He looks up at him and firmly nods, ensuring Adam that this isn’t out of pity from his dream he told Brayden about. 

They both worry for a split second that someone is going to see them, but the nearest house is around the bend and back a while and Adam has snugly parked the car in between some trees, leaving them in the small field.

Brayden is grateful for the grass right now because he can already tell that his knees aren’t going to like him in the morning. Thankfully it’s pretty dry with no sign of dew so when they get back to their friends there will be no reason for suspicion. Well, maybe not if Adam has anything to do with it.

He finally gets Adam’s pants halfway down his thighs as well as his underwear, now leaving him looking directly at his dick. It’s a new experience for Brayden, not that he’s never been in a locker room before, but the close proximity and the knowledge of what he’s about to do makes all the difference in the world.

Adam is saying something above him but it’s almost like he can’t hear him, only reach forward and take a gentle lick at the tip, sending Adam into a small groaning fit. He reaches up with his left hand and grips the base of Adam’s dick firmly before giving the vein on the underside a long and languid lick before taking the head into his mouth and gently applying pressure with his tongue.

“Jesus _fuck_ , where did you learn this shit?”

Brayden doesn’t answer but rather attempts to go down deeper while gently bobbing his head in time with the small movements of his hand. While his left works at Adam, his right hand moves down to his own crotch to attempt to relieve some pressure for himself. 

He can feel the small bit of sweat beading on the back of his neck as he continues to lick and suck with what he thinks will be enjoyable for Adam. He turns out to be right if the groans from deep down in his throat are any indication on what he’s feeling.

Brayden takes a moment to look up while giving small kitten licks at the tip of Adam’s cock, lapping up the precome pearling on his tongue. Adam looks down and their gazes meet, Adam carding his fingers through Brayden’s hair and taking him in.

His hair is fluffy from Adam’s grip and his watery grey eyes look up at him with adoration while his mouth works sinfully on the underside of Adam’s cock.

“You’re beautiful, Brayden. And all for me,” Adam coos as he tugs ever so slightly on the tussled pieces of Brayden’s hair. He continues to work up and down Adam’s dick, once in a while choking ever so slightly. Adam would give him a reassuring pat on the head every time it happened or let out a moan when Brayden does something he really likes.

Brayden is looking up at Adam through his lashes and that nearly sends Adam over the edge, just pulling back in time to take his dick out of Brayden’s mouth so he doesn’t come there, but rather attempting to get his hand in front of the head of his cock.

He only fails slightly, just the smallest bit of come ends up catching the corner of Brayden’s mouth and cheek before Adam is groaning out Brayden’s name breathless.

Brayden is panting and still kneeling on the ground, looking up at Adam. Once Adam finishes and wipes his hand on the grass below him, he takes a look at Brayden who has this completely blissed out expression on his face. 

“Oh… my god,” Brayden huffs out, smile growing wider as Adam recovers, tucking himself back into his jeans. He smiles down at the smaller boys and lends a hand out to help him to stand up. He immediately pulls Brayden in close to him and wraps his arms around his smaller waist.

“You were great, baby,” Adam says.

Brayden smirks and brings a hand up to wipe the come off of his cheek with his thumb, moving to lick it off and causing Adam’s hands to reach down and squeeze his ass with a groan.

“You’re a menace.”

“Yeah, but you think it’s hot.”

Adam shrugs. “I can’t argue with you there.”

Brayden looks down at his watch and huffs in annoyance. “Fifteen until midnight… they’ll be wondering where we are.”

Adam nods and pulls the door to the car open behind him, still leaving on hand on Brayden’s waist. He leans down to Brayden’s ear and nips at it slightly before speaking.

“Tomorrow night, come over and spend the night. I’m kicking Scheifs and Wheels out so I can return the favour to you, if you catch my drift.”

Brayden’s face goes red and he nods his head furiously. His mother would kill him, especially if he knew what was going to happen, but saying that he was going to spend the night with Jenna and Will for the night would suffice.

Adam shoves Brayden ever so slightly into the car and slides in after him, turning over the engine and throwing his arm over the younger boy's shoulder. 

“Let’s go socialize, shall we?” 

-

Brayden slides up next to Jenna and Will, causing them both to jump a little bit. “Where the fuck have you been?”

“We went for a little drive.”

Jenna takes a look up at Brayden’s hair which is standing up every which way. She reaches up and pats it down before locking eyes with him and sending him a wink.

Brayden goes into instant panic mode and begins stuttering until he is interrupted by Will’s laughing.

“Man, that fucking pelican just ran into the side of a boat.”

Brayden relaxes for a minute, now knowing that Will isn’t laughing at him, but Jenna still has her smug smirk on her face. She has always been more in tune with Brayden’s feelings than literally anyone else in the entire world, so he’s not that surprised that she has figured this out.

He mouths _don’t tell anyone_ and she pretends to zip her lips shut and flicks the imaginary key into the water below them. Brayden smiles at her and she returns it.

Brayden pulls away from the railing to join Adam, who is standing up against a pole behind the group. They are in a fairly quiet place with most of the patrons of John’s Pass being down on the beach awaiting the fireworks.

A distant countdown begins from the bar and it filters out onto the beach and boardwalk, the voices getting louder and louder.

_5_

Adam curls his pinky finger around Brayden’s and he smiles to himself.

_4_

Brayden looks up at him with a wide grin on his face, shuffling closer to Adam and sliding his free hand up his torso, feeling his abs flutter ever so slightly.

_3_

They watch Willis come up behind Jenna and hug her, giving her a small peck on the cheek while they look out at the water. No one is looking at Brayden and Adam.

_2_

Adam spins Brayden around ever so slightly so that he’s looking directly at the taller man. They both smile at each other.

“Happy New Years, Brayden.”

_1_

Adam leans in and attaches his lips onto Brayden’s, licking at his lower lip ever so slightly. It’s not rushed and both of them are practically glowing. The fireworks are going off in the background, but they seem muffled, the only thing they can focus on is each other and their movements.

Adam pulls away slowly, dragging out the kiss. Brayden is glowing, reaching up to kiss Adam’s nose quickly before pulling back altogether before anyone sees what they are doing. Brayden swipes his thumb over Adam’s cheekbone before moving to play with the ends of his hair that have been growing out.

“Happy New Years, Adam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, you can find me on tumblr @bitchasslowry


	5. Breakfast In America

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it everyone, the final chapter. Enjoy

Brayden wakes up on January 7th with a heavy arm slung across his waist. It rained the evening before, tiny droplets of water that are still clinging into the mesh screen enclosing the balcony outside Adam’s room. 

The two of them spent the night eating take out from the Iranian place down the road, sitting out watching the sun set over the fifth hole of the golf course and sharing kisses that trail from each other’s lips to their shoulders. 

Brayden’s hair is fluffed up and so is Adam’s, strewn across his pillow and Brayden’s shoulder. He groggily opens his eyes and tentatively reaches back to run his hand through Adam’s golden brown tresses and scratching gently at his scalp.

They had both turned domestic and it makes Mark and Blake alike gag when Adam leans down to give Brayden kisses at impromptu times. Adam simply retorts with pointing out that he had to endure Mark’s panic before he took Sam out for a dinner on New Year’s day. Everything has fallen into place and none of them could have asked for a better Christmas break. 

But all of that is coming to a screeching halt at approximately 4 o’clock in the afternoon, at least for Brayden and Adam. The plane ticket back to Calgary is practically burning a hole in Brayden’s wallet and he tries not to think about it as Adam presses his feather light lips along his upper back, trying to kiss every small freckle and mole he can find. 

“Good morning, baby,” Adam grumbles out, sleep still tainting his voice while he stretches his legs out over the end of the bed. Damn him and his height that Brayden has always desperately wanted. 

Brayden’s heart flutters at the nickname and he sighs out in contentment. 

“G’morning.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” Adam says with obvious sadness in his voice. 

It sounds corny, but the last two weeks have been the most enlightenting, scary and amazing weeks of Brayden’s life by far. And all of that is thanks to Adam, this giant dork underneath the facade of being cool and suave who really just likes Star Wars and cuddles after dinner. 

New Years was the turning point in whatever it is that’s going on between the two of them. Relationship? No. Friends with benefits? Also no. There’s a real attachment there, but neither of them are quite ready for a title. 

It’s the 70’s; people haven’t all hopped on the hippie movement and still find homosexuality gross and a sin. It makes Brayden’s stomach churn. He thinks Adam, rather than being a sin, is actually a gift to him from God. Brayden asked for something, anything, that would point him in the right direction in life right after he started developing feelings for Adam.

God’s answer to that was to go ahead, be free. Love is a mighty splendid thing no matter what. And if that love may come from one man to another, so be it. Brayden has since started wearing the cross his mother got him for his 15th birthday more frequently than just for church. 

Brayden closes his eyes and runs his thumb over that cross that hangs from his neck onto his bare chest. The contrast of the cool metal to the hot hand of Adam protectively placed on his stomach almost soothes him, grounds him. 

He’s trying to soak all of this in; Adam pressed tightly up against his back, warm Florida sun and the sounds of Blake and Mark arguing about something in the distance. Brayden nuzzles back into the man behind him. 

“I don’t want to leave either.”

“During reading week I’m coming back to Calgary.”

Brayden sighs. “But that’s not for three months, Adam.”

“I know, baby, I know. But the Peg and Calgary aren’t exactly close.”

Adam’s right and Brayden knows it, but that doesn’t mean that he has to like it. He leans back and gives Adam a small kiss on the nose before sliding out of the sheets and attempting to find some sort of shirt to wear. 

He has an idea, but it’s gonna be a feat to pull off. 

-

They’re bittersweet goodbyes. The whole group gets back together down at the clubhouse for one last lunch before they all part their seperate ways. 

While the Point family is catching the 3pm flight out to Calgary, the Melo’s are flying out at 5 to go back to Winnipeg, much to Mark’s pleasure. At least he gets to see Sam when he goes back home. 

Jenna and Willis aren’t leaving until tomorrow morning to head back to Southern Ontario where both of them attend uOttawa for forensic science and urban planning respectively. They visit Calgary regularly to see Jen’s grandmother, but it’s still going to be a while until the Point family sees them. 

Adam, Mark and Blake start driving tomorrow as well and won’t get back to U of M for another three days. 

When Brayden’s mom finally finds him in the clubhouse and ushers him out he could barely say anything to his friends and not-really-but-kinda-is-boyfriend. All he can do is give everyone hugs and hold on to Adam a little longer and inconspicuously give him a kiss on the side of his neck. 

He gets in the car and Kade immediately senses that he’s not too happy. He pats Brayden on the thigh and sends him a smile. It’s the same as Brayden’s and that gives him comfort. 

Getting on the plane is nothing short of miserable, especially when he realizes that Calgary is five hours away. 

-

Two months go by before Kade comes running into Brayden’s room and throws an envelope almost directly at his head.

“What the fuck-“

“Read it!”

Brayden scowls and picks it up reluctantly. As soon as he sees the rerun address he lights up. A small A. Lowry and a residence building unit along with Winnipeg, Manitoba is scrawled in Adam’s horrible writing on the top left corner. 

“How did he get my address?”

“Ever heard of a _phone book_ , Brayden? Besides, I gave it to him.”

“You did what?”

Kade shrugs his shoulders. “The morning before we left I gave him a piece of paper with our address on it. I thought you’d want to keep in touch so, yeah.”

Brayden lights up and tugs Kade in close to him to wrap him in a hug. He’s getting taller and is almost beating Brayden and Riley in the height race, even though he’s only like, thirteen, which pisses everyone off slightly. 

“I knew you were my favourite brother for a reason.”

Kade smiles and shuffles his way back out the door, shutting it in the process. Brayden automatically hops back further on his bed and tears open the envelope.

Inside is a letter and what looks like the back of a picture. He picks up the letter first. 

_Brayden,_

_I’m sorry it’s been so long. Mark and I have been busy with school and having to deal with finding a new house to live in, but everything is fine._

_Kade gave me your address; I’m sure he already told you that._

Brayden laughs and nods his head at his piece of paper. He feels like an idiot, but he can barely tell from the pure giddiness he feels knowing that Adam wrote this. 

_I miss you a lot, and it turns out that I won’t make it home for reading week. Hockey coach wants me, Mark and Blake to meet up and work on team bonding shit, or whatever. It’s bullshit, but I can’t just tell him that a cute boy back in Calgary is waiting for me… unfortunately._

_Please write back, I know it seems like I’ve been ignoring you. I promise I haven’t. Ask any of the guys and they’ll tell you I’m miserable._

_Anyways, I hope this gets to you soon. Sam and Paul also send their best regards._

_I love you._

Brayden’s heart does the flip flop thing that it did all the time seeing Adam in person and he holds the letter to his chest for just a moment before tucking it back into its envelope. 

He finds some old book about birds that’s shoved in the back of his bookshelf and tucks the letter in the front cover for safe keeping. Brayden puts the book back and steps away to find his jacket. 

Before leaving the house on unknown pretenses, he stops in Kade’s room. “If mom and dad ask where I am just tell them I went up to Carsen’s place.”

Kade nods and flips the page of his comic, also sending a thumbs up Brayden’s way. Brayden pushes his hair, that he’s recently let grow out, back and heads out the door. 

A quick walk down the streets of Calgary, still covered in a layer of slushy snow, leads him to his old high school. It’s weird being back but Brayden doesn’t know any other way of doing this other than speaking to his old secretary for the paperwork he needs. 

The school is warm and smells of the same cleaning supplies and old books that he remembers from his senior year. Class is still on so there’s only a couple of students hanging around the common area near the front of the school. 

Brayden veers left instead and let himself in the office where he used to go to sign himself in late more times than he’d like to admit. Ms. Clarke is still there, grey hair pulled up in a tight bun and her cheaters hanging off of a little beaded string that sits on her neck. 

“What can I do for- Brayden? How are you?” She asks, smiling when she sees the small man dressed in his old Bishop O’Byrne JV Hockey jacket and a pair of dark grey slacks.

“I’m good, thanks. I… have a question though.”

Ms. Clarke nods her head and leans in a little bit. “It’s certainly a surprise you’re here, but what is it, hun?”

Brayden shuffles to the side a bit and leans down on the desk in front of him. 

“I need help with an out of province university application.”

-

The letters keep coming and going, back and forth for months along with the occasional picture or two that are shoved in the envelope along with the intricate, thought out letters to each other. 

Brayden’s heart skips a beat every time he reads the words Adam writes down for him, tucking every single one of them into the front cover of that same bird encyclopedia. 

This time when he sits down to write one of his letters, he seals off the one to Adam but immediately picks up another piece of paper.

On the top he scrawls a completely different name. 

_Dear Mark…_

-

On the morning of May 5th Kade comes sliding into Brayden’s room, a piece of paper in hand. He extends his arm out to Brayden and starts flapping it around. 

“Open it!”

The envelope is fairly blank, except for the small university crest in the top left corner. Brayden’s heart rate speeds up and he gently tears open the top. 

Kade is practically vibrating next to him, a complete contrast to the soft sounds of Brayden’s copy of Abbey Road playing across the room. He feels like he can’t breathe as he unfolds the thick piece of paper. 

His eyes scan over the top of the letter before moving to the smaller writing. 

_Mr. Brayden Point,_

The two brothers take in a deep breath. 

_We are please to congratulate you on your acceptance in our Classics program. Here at the University of Manitoba we are looking forward to seeing you in the fall if you choose to accept this offer._

Brayden smiles to himself and looks over at Kade, who is also beaming. 

“You get to see your _boyfriend_ again,” Kade drawls out, making a kissy face at Brayden to which he smacks his brother in the face for. He rolls his eyes as Kade laughs, sliding off the bed and bouncing to the door. 

“You’re gonna tell mom and dad about getting in, right?”

Brayden nods. “I’ll tell them at dinner.”

Kade makes a humming noise in contentment and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Brayden smiles to himself and reads over the first paragraph over and over again. 

His first order of business is packing that god awful bird encyclopedia. 

-

August rolls around a lot faster than Brayden expects. Adam had told him in a letter that he was going to Blake’s place down in Minnesota for a month after he completed his small internship at a local museum in July, leaving no time for him to visit Calgary. 

Mark saw this as an opportunity and forked out some money to call long distance on a strategic Sunday to Brayden all the way from Winnipeg. 

After a quick chat and some convincing of Brayden’s mother (and fabricating a few things about who he would be living with, but no one’s really paying attention to that) the arrangements were made and Mark started cleaning out the spare room. It’s a place to put his stuff before he inevitably infiltrates Adam’s room. 

Brayden is beyond ecstatic sitting in the bus terminal on the morning of August 20th, tapping his feet on the linoleum floor to the beat of the mind numbing elevator music playing through the speakers. His parents are long gone, having said their goodbyes around twenty minutes ago in front of the bus station before climbing back in the station wagon and rolling down the road. 

Kade gave him the biggest hug and he ever swears that Riley got a little bit sad. His dad gave him the big Be The Man I Taught You To Be speech and his mom barely stopped crying to give him a hug. No way that he was gonna tell his mother that he’s honestly dying to get out of Calgary and his father that he’d much rather take it in the ass by his very-close-to-being-boyfriend than buy flowers for a girl, so he just nodded along until the Brady Bunch had left him to his own devices, equipped with a copy of Les Misérables, a singular box of Ding Dongs and the wisdom of how he needed to buy some Tuna Twist when he gets to the Peg. 

(Apparently that shit along with Koogle is revolutionary as stated by nine out of ten suburban moms. Unfortunately Brayden is neither living in the suburbs or a mother.)

His bus gets called and he lugs his obnoxiously large duffel bag that at one point carried his hockey equipment when he was twelve over and into the bottom of the Greyhound. 

By the time he passes Moose Jaw, Brayden already had about five naps, three Ding Dongs and chatted with an old woman about her son. She reminds him of the lady on the flight down to Clearwater and he’s hit with the sudden reality that in less than seven hours he’ll be setting up his pending new home for the next four years. 

In less than a day he’ll be able to see Adam again in person after only corresponding through letters for the past eight months. Now thinking about it, it’s nuts to think he’s shipping off to a different province for a boy he’s only been with in person for two weeks, but talking to Adam without actually seeing him via letters was almost good for their relationship. 

Brayden has learned a lot about Adam through the letters; stuff about his family and his love for dogs just being two topics of conversation. Seeing him in person soon will be- an experience to put it simply. 

That experience begins when the bus driver makes an announcement that they’ll be pulling into the Winnipeg terminal in less than ten minutes. 

-

Mark looks quite honestly the same in those god awful patterned sweater vest things that Brayden has only seen old men wear. Nonetheless, he’s still excited to see him with his Vista Cruiser waiting for Brayden in the parking lot. 

“Brayden! Good to see you, bud,” Mark exclaims, pulling him in for a quick hug that ended up a little bit awkward due to Mark’s size. Yeah, he’s definitely forgotten what tall people are like. 

“You too. Where do you want all this shit?”

A big of lugging and slugging later, the two of them are driving down some main roads to eventually pull into the driveway of a fairly large house that’s only a stones throw away from campus. 

Walking in the side door leads them directly to the kitchen fully equipped with a harvest gold tinted floor, beige countertops and coffee brown stove and fridge. It reminds Brayden of his home back in Calgary. 

“Sorry it’s a mess, I’ve been by myself all month and I’ve had to work,” Mark sighs, attempting to clean off some of the dirty dishes and cling wrap from the counter.

It’s around 7pm which makes sense. The trip from Calgary took about 15 hours and Brayden left the city at and ungodly hour of the morning, so he’s tired from sitting for so long that he doesn’t exactly care what shape the kitchen is in. 

“It’s cool, man. Where can I put my stuff?”

“Right, come with me.”

Mark leads him up the stairs to a small hallway with what looks like four bedrooms and a bathroom. 

“This one's yours, but uh, we figured you wouldn’t be staying here for too long.” Brayden cocks his head to the side in confusion. “Adam’s room is the big one at the end of the hall.”

Brayden’s face flames up in a light shade of red before letting out a small laugh. “Thanks.”

Mark gives him a little clap on the back. “No problem.”

He leaves Brayden on his own to go back down the stairs, most likely to greet whoever just walked in the door that’s almost positively Blake. 

Brayden takes a look around the room, drops his things and walks over to the window and takes a look out. From here you can see a little corner of campus along with people walking up and down the street. 

He smiles to himself and starts unpacking.

-

Brayden is quick to learn that there’s more guys that live in the house, just in the basement. Their landlord rented it out as two different places but slowly learned that the two groups of guys became quick friends. 

On his way to get some dinner that consisted of boxed Mac N Cheese and some grapes, Brayden runs into three other guys who are chatting with Mark on the little landing by the side door he came in. 

After a quick greeting, he also learns that the boys’ names are Patrik, Nikolaj and Jack, who are all international students from the USA, Finland and the Netherlands respectively. They’re quick to ask Brayden questions about his major and where he’s from before they have to head out to meet up with some of their other friends. Brayden and Mark bid them a goodbye before dishing out some food for themselves and sitting down in the living room. 

The two of them eat in relative silence while an episode of I Love Lucy plays in the television in front of them. 

They chat idly about mindless things before they both decide it’s best that they go to bed.

“I know the bed in your room isn’t made so, uh, you can sleep in Adam’s.”

Brayden nods and sets off to the end of the hall. Pushing the door open he can’t help but take a look around the room and notice just how _Adam_ it is. 

There’s hockey and band posters all along one wall including a singular Star Wars poster, Luke obviously the main focus of it. It makes Brayden laugh a little bit before he slides into bed. His sheets are a light golden colour with a white pom-pom like bedspread that Brayden is almost positive was given to Adam by his mom.

He strips down to his boxers and wanders over to Adam’s dresser. It doesn’t take long to find his t-shirts. Brayden leafs through them for a while until he finds what looks like a shirt from his high school. Across the front is a faded _Varsity Champions 1974_ along with the school name that sounds very familiar to Brayden.

He slips it over top of his head and takes a deep breath in, recognizing the familiar smell of Adam’s aftershave, cigarettes and the slightest hint of cheap whiskey.

He slides underneath the sheets and curls himself into a little ball, hugging the pillow a bit. He thinks. He thinks a lot. About how quickly his life changed mostly. Within a year he’s come to terms with who he is, became happy with life and moved to a completely different province for a boy that he spent a grand total of two weeks with in Florida. 

He doesn’t know what to think other than it’s nuts. But still, it feels like home. 

-

Brayden is being shaken awake by a very flustered and distraught looking Mark. 

“Get _up_. Blake and Adam are pulling in the driveway,” he says slapping Brayden on the shoulders. He groans but wakes up immediately and starts scanning the room for his jeans that were thrown in the general direction of that Star Wars poster before he fell asleep. 

Somehow he manages to look somewhat decent by the time he hears the distinct laugh that rumbles deep in Blake. It’s quickly followed by Adam’s voice which makes Brayden’s heart rate speed up. 

He’s tucking in the shirt he slept in, which he now realizes has a large Lowry written on the back, into the waist of his pants and fastening a belt through the loops. His hair is just going to have to look alright how it is. 

His sock feet don’t make much noise as he speeds down the stairs before stopping at the small landing which gives way to the living room. He can hear the footsteps of the boys no more than ten feet away from him, and if it’s even possible he gets more excited. 

“Hey, so I have a surprise for you, Lows.” Mark is anxious, Brayden can tell. “Bud? You wanna come out now?”

“Mark you know we’ll get killed if we have a pet in here-“

Brayden walks out and down the three steps off the landing to now be standing in a small hallway, front door on his left, kitchen on his right and the three men directly in front of him. 

Adam’s back is turned to Brayden, but the smaller boy is already smiling brightly at the sight of him. 

“Hey, Adam.”

He spins around fast, immediately taking a look at Brayden. His eyes go wide and he strides over, lifting Brayden up by the waist and pulling him into a hug. Brayden wraps his legs around Adam and nuzzles his face into the side of his neck. 

“Hey, baby,” Brayden mumbles. 

He can hear Blake and Mark leave the room and seemingly go outside, probably to give the two of them some time alone. 

“What- what are you doing here? School starts soon, Bray. You can’t be in Winnipeg-“

“Adam,” Brayden starts, pulling his head back. “I’m staying.”

He sets Brayden down and pushes a piece of his hair behind his ear. “Pardon?”

Brayden smiles, wrapping his arms around Adam’s neck. “I’m here to stay, babe. You’re looking at U of M’s newest Classics major and your newest house-mate.”

Adam’s face lights up, still in slight shock that Brayden is actually standing in front of him and isn’t just a figment of his imagination. 

So he does what he knows what to do best; he leans down and takes Brayden’s face between his hands and kisses him, long and slow with as much feeling behind it that he can muster. 

They pull away after a few seconds and Brayden pants ever so slightly. “You shaved off your moustache.”

“And you grew out your hair.”

They both laugh and Brayden pulls himself in close to Adam, snuggling into his chest for the first time in eight months. 

He vows to himself right then and there that he’s never going to let this feeling go. 

-

It’s a month into classes when Brayden feels like he’s finally settled into a routine. Him and the boys live in a blissful co-existence that literally no one ever told him university would have. 

Sure they go to parties, but none of them would be caught dead having one at their own place. They do their normal independent things, go to classes, play an obscene amount of road hockey with Nikolaj, Patrik and Jack and overall just enjoy each other. 

Adam and Brayden definitely have been enjoying each other’s company a bit more than the other guys. 

But Brayden’s favourite time of the day is when he comes home, _home_ , to Adam after his eight o’clock pm lecture.

The hall is only a block away from their house, so he tends to walk a lot meaning that he doesn’t get home until around a quarter after ten. By this time Adam is pretty much almost asleep. 

This particular Tuesday in November it’s ridiculously cold walking home even with Brayden’s coat and toque. 

He kicks off his boots at the door and works his way up the stairs, pushing himself into his and Adam’s room where the older man is listening to music quietly, thumbing through the milk crate of records on the floor. 

“Hey baby,” Adam says, smiling up at Brayden and reaching out for him to come down to the floor and give him a hug. 

Brayden complies and curls himself into Adam’s arms, attempting to get warm. 

“How was class?”

“Boring,” Brayden sighs. “But tomorrow’s topic sounds interesting so I’m pretty excited for that.”

Adam nods along as Brayden talks more about his day and about this one girl he met in his lecture named Mikayla. They’ve already made plans to get lunch some time, and Adam gives Brayden a small kiss on the head, playing with the little cross that hangs on his chain as he walks Adam through the rest of his evening. 

During a pause in the story Adam speaks up. “What would you call us, Bray?”

He’s caught off guard. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Adam starts, shifting around so that he’s looking Brayden directly in the eyes. “I want to be your boyfriend, like, really bad. But I know that we’re lucky we have friends that don’t care, but a lot of people do.”

Brayden nods along. 

“I’m just scared, Brayden.”

The younger boy reaches up and presses a soft kiss to the tip of Adam’s nose. “We don’t have to tell anyone, Lows. I’m more than happy right here with you. Date nights can very much be in our kitchen, baby, don’t you worry.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Yeah, Adam. I’ll go steady with you.”

Adam grins wide and gives Brayden a sloppy kiss on the cheek to which Brayden wipes off quickly. 

“You’re such a _spaz_ , Lowry.”

“Yeah but I’m yours, Point.”

Brayden rolls his eyes playfully and shuffles over to change out the record. He holds one up to Adam that peaks his interest and he nods, a giant smile still pulling at his lips. 

Brayden sets _If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears_ inside the turntable, moving the needle to Side B, Track One. 

He moves back over and nestles himself into his boyfriend's arms, soaking up the music and letting himself feel something for once in a long time. 

After a while, Brayden feels the rumble of Adam’s voice against his back. 

“Brayden?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to go to Florida with me?”

He ponders for a second and lets the corner of his mouth twitch up. 

“Yeah, Adam.” He squeezes his arm tighter. “Yeah I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading quite possibly the longest thing I’ve ever written. It’s been one hell of a journey and I’m so happy with how it turned out .
> 
> As always, you can find me over on tumblr @bitchasslowry. 
> 
> And in case I don’t see you again, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight

**Author's Note:**

> you can also find me on tumblr at bitchasslowry


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